Dec 27, 2007 7:19 am US/Eastern
Court Delays Deposition Of Clerk In Session
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) ―
A panel of judges Wednesday put the brakes on plans to depose the chief clerk of the Maryland House of Delegates in a Republican-led legal challenge to last month's special session of the General Assembly.
Republicans are charging that all laws resulting from the special session are invalid, because the Senate violated the state's constitution by taking too long of a break during the session without consent from the House. Democrats have described the allegation as frivolous.
GOP lawyers say Mary Monahan's testimony is essential to their case, and they claim the chief clerk has been eluding their efforts to depose her. A deposition was planned Friday in Tampa, Fla.
The attorney general's office filed for an emergency motion to stop the deposition, pending an appeal. A three-judge panel on the Court of Special Appeals decided to delay the deposition until further order from the court.
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