Maryland Scored 13% on “Parental Rights.” Here’s What the Score Leaves Out.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews On Oct. 1, the advocacy group Defending Education released its first Rankings on Integrity...
Family Court
A Viral Post Says Three Judges Conspired Against a Father. The Court Record Says Something Narrower.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A Facebook post accusing three sitting Montgomery County judges of coordinated retaliation...
Moore Proclaims Child Support Awareness Month. The Enforcement Gap It Ignores Gets No Mention.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Gov. Wes Moore and Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller have proclaimed August 2026 National Child Support...
Who Authorized This? A Private Nonprofit Is Now Appointing Attorneys in Maryland Custody Cases
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A Seattle-based nonprofit with no Maryland legislative authorization, no independent...
One Signature, No Judge: How Maryland Lets a Single Accusation Freeze a Custody Case
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A commissioner — not a judge — can issue a protective order in Maryland based on one...
Maryland Ranks Last in Court Reporter Pay. No One Is Tracking What That Costs Litigants.
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews On May 26, 2026, New York's Court of Appeals confronted a transcript so defective it was...
Law Day Irony: Maryland’s Top Lawyer Has Failed the Law
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews At 3:07 p.m. today, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown posted a tribute to the rule of...
She Slipped the Cuffs, Fought Two Officers, Drove Impaired — Then Walked Away Clean. Years Later, Under Oath, She Said She Didn’t Remember.
A deposition transcript obtained by this outlet reveals that Sarah Hornbeck admitted under oath to a...
The Case That Wouldn’t End
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland’s judiciary often presents itself as a model of stability, professionalism, and...
Months Missing: How Maryland’s Broken Child Welfare System Lost Track of Tristan King
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews For nearly six months, a nine-year-old boy was effectively missing in plain sight in...
Disabled Father’s Explosive ADA Lawsuit Slams Maryland Court for Systemic Discrimination—Will AG Brown Defend the Indefensible?
By Michael Phillips | Thunder Report | MDBayNews In a blistering federal lawsuit that exposes the ugly underbelly of...
MDBayNews Files Public Records Requests Seeking Government Communications About Reichert Federal Lawsuits
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews MDBayNews has filed a series of public records requests with multiple Maryland government...
Maryland Attorney’s Deposition Raises New Questions in Federal Malicious Prosecution Case
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A recent deposition in a federal lawsuit involving a long-running Maryland custody dispute...
What the Defendant Admitted Under Oath
By Michael R. Phillips | MDBayNews | Thunder Report Investigations A long-running custody and legal battle between Maryland...
Baltimore’s Protective Order Machine: When Allegations Become Weapons
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews When the state can take your freedom, your reputation, and your livelihood based on a...
Maryland HB 942: Criminalizing Custody Interference Is Necessary — But Without Structural Enforcement Reform, It Will Not Fix Maryland’s Family Court Crisis
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews For years, separated parents in Maryland have lived with a painful contradiction: custody...
Two Years to Maybe Make It Right? Maryland’s SB481 Raises Red Flags for Parents Facing Custodial Interference
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland lawmakers are advancing Senate Bill 481 (SB481) as a reform to address denial or...
Maryland House Republicans Roll Out Final Pieces of 2026 Affordability and Accountability Agenda
By MDBayNews Staff The Maryland House Republican Caucus has formally introduced the remaining bills in its 2026...
Former Maryland Child Support Employee Pleads Guilty to Timesheet Fraud, Ordered to Pay $42,000
By MDBayNews Staff A former employee of Maryland’s child support enforcement system has pleaded guilty to falsifying time...
How Maryland Family Courts Can Build Case Records Without a Parent Present
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews | Father & Co. A recent federal disability-rights ruling involving a Maryland parent...
Analysis: What Maryland Could Change to Prevent ADA Access Failures in Family Court
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews | Policy Analysis The recent federal ruling granting disability accommodations to a...
Federal Court Grants ADA Accommodations as Maryland Family Court Proceedings Continue Without Disabled Parent
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A recent federal court ruling granting disability accommodations to a Maryland parent has...
Maryland Lawmakers Push “Child Protection” Bills—But Gaps in Custody Law Remain Unaddressed
Maryland lawmakers are advancing a new round of child protection legislation during the 2026 General Assembly session,...
Maryland Lawmakers Move to Codify Standards for Custody Evaluators
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews As the 2026 legislative session gets underway, lawmakers in Annapolis are once again taking...
Maryland Courts Delay New Case Search Portal After Technical Problems Surface
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews The Maryland Judiciary has postponed the long-planned launch of its new integrated Maryland...
Baltimore County Lawsuit Alleges Illegal Protective Orders and Years-Long Separation of Father and Son
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews A civil lawsuit filed on December 2, 2025, in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County...
Maryland Judiciary to Launch Unified Case Search Portal January 9
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews The Maryland Judiciary will roll out a new, integrated online platform—the Maryland...
Maryland’s Transcript Trap: How Miller v. Smith and Feng v. Chen Expose Access-to-Justice Failures
When Americans think about “access to justice,” most assume it means having a fair chance to appeal if a court gets...
Maryland’s Outdated Wiretap Law Is Hurting Victims — And 2026 May Finally Bring Change
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews Maryland is one of just a few states still clinging to a strict two-party consent wiretap...
Justice Cannot Be Blind to Invisible Disabilities
By Michael PhillipsOriginally published in The Daily Record, October 24, 2025 When Congress passed the Americans with...
Maryland Admits Nearly 1,000 Foster Children Missing Since 2020 — Most Are Teenage Girls
In a letter released on October 22, 2025, Maryland’s Department of Human Services (DHS) confirmed what advocates had long...
Government Failure at Its Worst: How Maryland’s Foster System Left a 16-Year-Old Girl to Die in a Hotel Room
On September 22, 2025, tragedy struck in East Baltimore when 16-year-old foster child Kanaiyah Ward was found dead inside a...
Friday Night Lights, Dark Family Secrets: How a Father Who Won Was Erased — And Who Profited
On an August night in Prince George’s County, Maryland, a high school football game at Bishop McNamara should have been a...
Half a Billion for Failure: Maryland’s Foster Care Expansion Ignores the Real Crisis
On September 10, 2025, Maryland Matters ran a glowing report about the Maryland Board of Public Works approving a $465...
Fathers’ Rights Are Not an Excuse—They’re a Crisis
On social media, I recently wrote: “Every child deserves the love and presence of both parents. Yet so many fathers are...
The Gatekeepers No One Elected: How Maryland’s District Court Commissioners Shape Justice Before a Judge Ever Looks
Maryland’s justice system runs on a 24/7 hinge: District Court commissioners. These are not judges and, by law, they...
The Opportunist: From Gun Board Failure to Family Court Predator
In politics, reputations are hard to shake. In family court, reputations are too easily ignored. Maryland attorney John H....
Maryland Punishes Parents Harder Than Criminals — And It’s a National Shame
In Maryland today, parents seeking to see their children face harsher repercussions than actual criminals. Violent...
Passport to Nowhere: How Child Support Enforcement Blocks Parents from Working
In an age where we’re told that work is the path to independence, one Virginia parent discovered that the very attempt to...
Montgomery County Circuit Court: Where Poverty and Fatherhood Are Crimes
By Michael Phillips Montgomery County, Maryland, is often portrayed as one of the wealthiest, most progressive counties in...