Maryland?s highest court on Friday ruled that Montgomery County Council Member Tom Perez did not have the constitutional qualifications to run for attorney general and should be taken off the ballot.
The ruling turns the Sept. 12 Democratic primary into a head-to-head contest between Montgomery County State?s Attorney Doug Gansler and former Baltimore State?s Attorney Stuart Simms. The winner will face Republican Frederick State?s Attorney Scott Rolle to replace retiring Attorney General Joseph Curran.
The case was brought by attorney Stephen Abrams, a member of the Montgomery County school board and a Republican candidate for comptroller. Abrams disagreed with an opinion by Curran that said Perez could run for attorney general though he had not joined the Maryland bar until 2001. Perez, 44, a Harvard Law School graduate, had been working as a federal civil rights attorney in Washington before that.
A majority of the seven-member appeals court agreed with Abrams that Perez did not practice law in Maryland for 10 years, as the state constitution mandates.
House Speaker Michael Busch said he thought “the court should have made that determination long before they did. ? I?m not sure his name can be removed from the ballot” at this late date. Perez could not be reached for comment.
