Robert N. McDonald (born February 23, 1952) is a former judge of the

Maryland Court of Appeals The Supreme Court of Maryland is the highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. Its name was changed on December 14, 2022, from the Maryland Court of Appeals, after a voter-approved change to the state constitution. The court, which is composed ...

. He was appointed to the Court by Governor

Martin O'Malley Martin Joseph O'Malley (born January 18, 1963) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as the 61st Governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was Mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007. O'Malle ...

in 2012.

Personal life and education

Judge McDonald is originally from Queens, New York. Judge McDonald graduated from the prestigious Regis High School in 1970, earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in economics from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, summa cum laude, in 1974, and earned his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, magna cum laude, in 1977. At Harvard Law School, Judge McDonald served on the editorial board of the ''

Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of 143 ...

'' from 1975 to 1977. He is a nephew of former U.S. House of Representatives member

John N. Erlenborn John Neal Erlenborn (February 8, 1927 – October 30, 2005) was an American lawyer and a former Republican member of the U.S. Congressional Delegations from Illinois, representing the 14th (then after 1980s redistricting the 13th) district. ...

Career

Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge McDonald had a distinguished career in public service, serving in the

United States Attorneys United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

Office and later in the Office of the

Attorney General of Maryland The Attorney General of the State of Maryland is the chief legal officer of the State of Maryland in the United States and is elected by the people every four years with no term limits. To run for the office a person must be a citizen of and qua ...

References

External links

Homepage for the Court of Appeals

Red Robes and the Maryland Court of Appeals

1952 births Living people 21st-century American judges Assistant United States Attorneys Harvard Law School alumni Judges of the Supreme Court of Maryland Lawyers from Queens, New York Harvard College alumni {{Maryland-state-judge-stub