Maryland Supreme Court removes Anne Arundel Orphans Court judge from bench

The Supreme Court of Maryland ordered the immediate removal Monday of Anne Arundel County Orphans’ Court Chief Judge Vickie Gipson for what it called “egregious … misconduct” in office.

The four-page order came just hours after Gipson pleaded her case to the court Monday, asking it to reject the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities’ recommendation that she be removed from the bench and instead let her serve out the remaining few months of her term and retire.

It’s the latest chapter in an ongoing dispute between Gipson and former Orphans Court Judge Marc Knapp, who was ordered removed from the bench in June for conduct “fundamentally incompatible with judicial office” — conduct that stemmed from a series of run-ins with Gipson. As with Gipson on Monday, the court in July cited egregious misconduct as the reason for Knapp’s removal.

In her comments to the court Monday, Gipson, the first Black chief judge of the county orphans court, touted the improvements to the court during her tenure despite “a concerted effort by some to undermine the process.”

“I understand the seriousness of the court’s review, and ask the court to consider the full record including my conduct, the circumstances under which I served, the steps I took to seek help with resolution and the work that I accomplished on the Orphans’ Court,” Gipson told the justices.

“I apologize for the strain this matter has placed on the court, the judiciary and public confidence,” she said. “I regret the moments when I could have communicated with greater restraint, or responded to conflict in a more measured way.”

She said she accepted responsibility for her choices, but was “respectfully maintaining my objections to findings I believe are not supported on the record.”

The commission had recommended that Gipson be removed from the bench for a “persistent course of unprofessional action unbecoming of a judicial officer.” The court apparently agreed in Monday afternoon’s order. It said a full opinion would follow at a later date.

The commission said Gipson, who was first elected in 2018, and Knapp, elected in 2022, initially had a cordial working relationship on the three-judge court, but that it quickly turned acrimonious.

The two “engaged in repeated verbal altercations” that were at times “mutual, with both … exhibiting unprofessional behavior to varying degrees and would inhibit the court’s deliberations and cause staff present in or near chambers to be uncomfortable.” These altercations could be heard by court personnel and, occasionally, by the public, the commission said.

Because of her disputes with Knapp, the commission said Gipson tried to refuse to let him submit dissenting opinions and would attempt to bar the court “from issuing orders which had been signed by” Knapp. When he refused to leave the courtroom after one such dispute, she called police to remove him.

The commission said Gipson inappropriately invoked her title as chief judge “in legal proceedings and public statements to advance her personal interests.” It also said she violated court confidentiality in comments to reporters about Knapp, the court and complaints she filed with the commission against other judges, which are confidential.

While she was feuding with Knapp, the commission said Gipson was making accommodations for the third judge on the court, Judge David Duba. Orphans’ court is required to meet at least twice a week, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., but when Duba could not get to court until 11 or later, Gipson allowed for cases to be rearranged around his schedule, inconveniencing the public and workers in the Orphans’ Court and the Register of Wills office who had to work extra hours to accommodate the change.

State Supreme Court removed Anne Arundel Orphans’ Court judge for ‘egregious misconduct’

When pressed by the justices, Gipson said she believed she had the authority as chief judge to rearrange the court schedule and to deny dissenting opinions on the court’s orders. She conceded that she sometimes lost her temper with Knapp, who she felt was threatening, and that she could have sought advice from the commission sooner. But in other areas, like seeking a peace order against Knapp, she said she was just following recommendations from the commission and from police when she expressed concerns about her safety and the safety of others in the office.

“I hope to leave the court with my head held high, not because I believe I am flawless, but because I served with commitment, I learned from this experience and I made a meaningful contribution to the court and the people it served,” she told the justices.

But Kendra Jolivet, the attorney for the commission, said that Gipson’s actions merited removal from the bench because they violated court rules and “impaired court functionality, public access and the administration of justice.”

“The respondent [Gipson] devotes large portions of her exceptions to alleging institutional hostility, bias, racial tension or past disagreements with colleagues,” Jolivet told the justices. “Even if accepted as true, none of these allegations justify altering court operations without consensus, they don’t excuse inappropriate conduct toward colleagues and staff or negate the cumulative seriousness of the misconduct found.”

The commission found that while Knapp was the “primary aggressor in the underlying interpersonal conflict,” that does not outweigh the “gravity and breadth of respondent’s sanctionable conduct.”

In its unsigned order, the Supreme Court said it found that Gipson “committed one or more of the violations” charged by the commission and that “based on the egregious nature of the misconduct in this case, removal … is the appropriate disposition,” to take effect immediately.

Gipson did not run for reelection this year, in deference, she said, to the court and the charges against her. With her removal Monday, none of the three judges elected to the orphans’ court in 2022 remain on the bench. In addition to Knapp being removed this summer, Duba resigned in November 2024.