Maryland Attorney General Opinion 100OAG136

136 [100 Op. Att’y CONSTITUTIONAL LAW FREE EXERCISE CLAUSE – WHETHER JUDICIARY MUST ALLOW JUDGES TO TAKE ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE FOR RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE December 21, 2015 Ms. Pamela Harris State Court Administrator You have asked, on behalf of the Administrative Office of the Courts, whether application of the Court’s Administrative Order on Judicial Absences from Court, as amended March 24, 2014, results in unlawful discrimination on the basis of religion. Under the Court’s amended judicial leave policy, a judge seeking to take time off for religious observances must use accrued annual or…