Frederic N . Smalkin The Honorable Frederic N . Smalkin is a Retired Judge of the U . S . District Court for the District of Maryland and is currently an Instructor at the University of Baltimore School of Law . He was awarded the James A . May award for excellence in teaching and mentoring . Judge Smalkin also has served as Chairman of the Maryland Governor ' s Emergency Management Advisory Council and is a Brigadier General in , as well as the former Commanding General of , the Maryland Defense Force , and served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Civil Air Patrol , the U . S . Air Force Auxiliary . He was also a Captain in the United States Army . Childhood and education . Judge Smalkin was born in Baltimore , Maryland . His father , Richard , had risen to become a prominent attorney in Baltimore County , serving as President of the local Bar Association and as one of the first Judges of the People ' s Court for Baltimore County , before his death in 1958 . The younger Smalkin graduated from McDonogh School and received a B . A . from The Johns Hopkins University , " Phi Beta Kappa " . Following in his late father ' s footsteps , he graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law , earning his J . D . and was made a member of the Order of the Coif for graduating first of his class . Military service . Judge Smalkin put himself through college and law school with a set of Army ROTC scholarships . He served as an officer in the U . S . Army from 1968 until his honorable discharge , in 1976 , earning the Meritorious Service Medal with an Oak Leaf Cluster and achieving the rank of Captain . Judge Smalkin served in the Ordnance Corps with a detail to the Judge Advocate General ' s Corps , as Assistant to the General Counsel of the Army , and was appointed Recorder of the Army Contract Adjustment Board . He later became a rated pilot and Lieutenant Colonel in the Civil Air Patrol , and was awarded its Distinguished Service Medal . He was commissioned in the Maryland Military Department and later promoted Brigadier General and appointed by the Governor as commander of the Maryland Defense Force ( State Guard ) . Upon relinquishing command of the Defense Force , he was awarded the State of Maryland Distinguished Service Cross . Professional career . Judge Smalkin began his career in public service as Law clerk to then - Chief Judge Edward S . Northrop , in the U . S . District Court for the District of Maryland . He was subsequently admitted to the Maryland Bar , having reportedly achieved that year ' s highest score on the Maryland bar exam . Before entering senior status , on January 8 , 2003 , Judge Smalkin served as Chief Judge , from October 20 , 2001 to January 6 , 2003 . He had been on the bench since 1976 , having begun his career as a United States Magistrate Judge at the early age of 30 years . He received a " promotion , " of sorts , on December 1 , 1986 , when he was invested as a United States District Judge . He retired to senior status in 2003 and retired fully in 2011 . He is now a mediator and arbitrator with the dispute resolution firm JAMS ( alternative dispute resolution ) . Notable cases . Two controversial cases stand out from the many that Judge Smalkin heard during his thirty years on the bench . First was his 1987 decision which overturned the conviction of Marvin Mandel , who succeeded Spiro Agnew as Governor of Maryland , for mail fraud and racketeering . Smalkin applied a Supreme Court decision — handed down after Mandel ' s conviction — which held that the mail fraud statute under which Mandel was convicted did not apply to cases of government corruption . " United States v . Mandel , " 672 F . Supp . 864 ( D . Md . 1987 ) . The second , and perhaps more notorious , case was " Sons of Confederate Veterans , Inc . v . Glendenning " , in which Judge Smalkin held that the Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles could not deny the local Sons of Confederate Veterans a " vanity " license plate bearing a confederate flag , because to do so would infringe their right to free speech , in violation of the First Amendment . " Sons of Confederate Veterans v . Glendenning , " 954 F . Supp . 1099 ( D . Md . 1997 ) .