O’Malley announces court appointments

Governor Martin O’Malley has appointed Maryland’s first black female judge to the Court of Appeals and the first female chief judge to the state’s highest court.

Judge Shirley Watts was appointed to the Court of Appeals on Wednesday. Judge Mary Ellen Barbera was appointed to be chief judge.

If the two are each approved by the state Senate, four of the court’s seven judges will be women.

O’Malley also appointed his chief legislative officer, Stacy Mayer, to District Court for Baltimore County.

Barbera has served on the Court of Appeals since 2008, and Watts has been a judge on the Court of Special Appeals since 2001.