By Stephanie Francis Ward

October 6, 2026, 1:51 pm CDT

Two Maryland judges whose intense and public professional feud devolved into shouting matches, police involvement, and allegations of severe judicial misconduct have both been officially removed from the bench.

The Maryland Supreme Court removed Chief Judge Vickie Gipson of the Anne Arundel County Orphans’ Court on Monday, concluding a tumultuous chapter for the probate court that shares a history of bitter infighting, administrative dysfunction, and violations of the Maryland Code of Judicial Conduct. Gipson’s removal follows the expulsion of former Maryland Judge Marc Knapp, who was ousted from the very same court earlier this summer after the state’s highest court determined he engaged in a pattern of egregious misconduct.

The relationship between the two jurists deteriorated significantly over their shared tenure on the bench, characterized by mutual disrespect, procedural blockades, and volatile confrontations. According to local reports and state court records, their disputes frequently escalated into shouting matches that were loudly carried through the courthouse and overheard by startled staff members.

In her rulings and actions on the bench, Gipson reportedly sought to neutralize Knapp’s influence by preventing him from submitting formal legal dissents. The administrative breakdown reached an extraordinary low point when Gipson allegedly called local law enforcement to the courthouse simply because Knapp refused to comply with her administrative requests.

Facing disciplinary proceedings before the Maryland Supreme Court, Gipson expressed contrition for her role in the breakdown of workplace civility. “I regret the moments when I could have communicated with greater restraint or responded to conflict in a more measured way,” Gipson told the court, according to coverage by Maryland Matters.

Despite her expressions of regret, the state’s highest court determined that her actions warranted removal from office. According to the Maryland Supreme Court’s official order, Gipson was found to have violated core tenets of the Maryland Code of Judicial Conduct.

Gipson’s legal career spans several decades. According to the Maryland state website, she was admitted to practice law in 1992 and is also barred in Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. Before her tenure on the bench, she built a robust professional background working with a variety of community organizations. Her legal practice focused extensively on complex matters related to wills and estates, contracts, real estate, and civil rights law, as highlighted in a 2018 community recognition post from Eye on Annapolis.

Gipson’s judicial career in Anne Arundel County spanned multiple years. Having served as a judge since 2018, she was later elevated to the role of chief judge by the Maryland governor. Both Gipson and Knapp were originally elected to the Anne Arundel County Orphans’ Court—a specialized tribunal that handles probate, estates, and guardianship matters—in 2022.

While Gipson’s removal was finalized this week, her former colleague Marc Knapp faced disciplinary expulsion from the bench earlier in the summer following an extensive investigation and hearing process handled by the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities.

Knapp came to the legal profession later in life after transitioning from a long career in finance. He began law school in 2010 and successfully passed the Maryland bar examination in 2014, eventually securing a seat on the Orphans’ Court alongside Gipson in the 2022 election cycle.

However, Knapp’s time on the bench was quickly marred by severe professional and ethical missteps. During his disciplinary hearings with the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities, Knapp made startling admissions regarding his conduct toward his fellow judge, testifying candidly that he openly disrespected Gipson’s intellect and writing ability, as reported by the Daily Record.

The Maryland Supreme Court detailed a sweeping list of infractions committed by Knapp in its July 2026 opinion. Among the most serious allegations sustained by the court, Knapp secretly recorded judicial deliberations without the knowledge or consent of his judicial colleagues. When law enforcement officers eventually intervened regarding the clandestine recordings, Knapp attempted to physically destroy the evidence in their presence.

In addition to unauthorized recordings and attempted evidence destruction, the state supreme court found that Knapp engaged in conduct that cultivated a clear perception of bias toward women and people of color. Furthermore, he repeatedly made disparaging public comments undermining the integrity of the court as an institution and openly criticizing his judicial colleagues to outsiders.

The convergence of Gipson’s administrative overreach and Knapp’s procedural subversion ultimately crippled the functioning of the Anne Arundel County Orphans’ Court, drawing intense scrutiny from judicial watchdogs and culminating in the rare, dual removals of both sitting judges by the state’s highest judicial authority.