Brian Frosh

Environment

Senator Frosh sponsored a bill prohibiting drilling in the Marcellus Shale until certain conditions were met.^[11]

Legislative record

In 2009, Frosh proposed changing the laws on protective orders to better protect domestic abuse victims against gun violence,^[12][13] and in 2011, sought to provide temporary lodging for domestic violence victims.^[14] Frosh also sponsored legislation increasing the guidelines that courts use to set child support payments.^[15][16]

In 2010 Frosh supported legislation that would give the court the ability to put serious juvenile sex offenders on a registry.^[17]

Public Education

As senator, Frosh worked to draft the law that provides a waiver of tuition and fees to state universities for children in foster care.^[18]

Energy

As senator, Frosh worked on a number of bills intended to promote energy efficiency, hold down energy costs and reduce the environmental impacts of energy production and use.^[19]

Frosh advocated the establishment of service standards and the imposition of penalties if electric utilities failed to provide reliable service.^[20][21] In 2010, Frosh called on the Public Service Commission to investigate Pepco, and in 2011 introduced legislation calling for regulations and stiff penalties.^[22] Although Frosh’s original legislation passed the Senate,^[23] ultimately, the House would only enact penalties that were more lenient than Frosh’s proposal.^[24]

Privacy and Consumer Law

As chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, former Senator Frosh had responsibility for legislation in the Senate dealing with privacy and consumer laws. He sponsored bills protecting the privacy of citizens’ personal information in Motor Vehicle Administration files and authorizing Maryland’s Attorney General to prosecute violators of Federal anti-telemarketing regulations.^[25] The Judicial Proceedings Committee approved legislation establishing a task force to recommend identity theft remedies, beefing up the original bill at former Senator Frosh’s recommendation to pay specific attention to protecting social security numbers.^[26] Former Senator Frosh has also sponsored bills banning minimum price fixing and creating new tools to crack down on people who defraud the State’s Medicare program.^[27]

Lawsuits against the Trump Administration

As Maryland Attorney General, Frosh has regularly joined lawsuits against the Trump Administration. Frosh joined a Washington State lawsuit against President Donald Trump's immigration executive order.^[35] He joined a coalition of high-tax States suing the Trump Administration over the 2017 tax reform law^[36]. He has also joined lawsuits against Trump over a citizenship question on the 2020 Census, the Emoluments Clause, greenhouse gasses, regulatory rollbacks, vehicle emissions standards, airplane noise, contraception coverage in health insurance, regulation of for-profit colleges, offshore drilling, Obamacare subsidies, what he described as Trump's "attempts to sabotage" Obamacare, air pollution, and pesticide labelling.^{[37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]}

The Maryland legislature appropriated $1 million for Frosh to hire five additional attorneys to handle the anti-Trump lawsuits. But Maryland Governor Larry Hogan withheld the funds, saying that it wasn't a good use of the State's money.^[47]

Syed case

Frosh's office, in the person of Thiruvendran Vignarajah, has argued since 2010 against a new trial for Adnan Syed, who was convicted in 2010 of the Murder of Hae Min Lee. ^[48]

There was no physical evidence against Syed. There were two important pieces of evidence against him: cell tower pings which the State asserted placed Syed in the region where the body was found, and testimony of a purported eyewitness.^[49]

The Undisclosed podcast found a fax cover sheet from AT&T, who provided Syed's cell service, stating that incoming calls were (at that time) not considered reliable for location. This cover sheet was not provided to the State's cell expert at trial, who then proceeded to testify that certain pings from incoming calls placed Syed near the burial site.^[50][49]

The podcast also showed that the medical evidence (rigor mortis) was inconsistent with Maryland's theory of the murder. Specifically, the State argued, and the State's key witness testified, that Lee was kept doubled up in the trunk of her car after the murder, then buried on her side. However, according to multiple medical experts, condition of the body showed that Lee was stretched out and face down for several hours after the murder.^[51][52]

Additionally, the Undisclosed team found that the State's key witness told a different story each of the three times he was interviewed by the police, and the final, taped interview, a loud tap was often heard when the witness lost his way. Following the tap, the witness would resume telling his story.^[51]

There was also an alibi witness for Syed who did not testify because Syed's attorney failed to contact her prior to trial.^[53]

Vignarajah, who reports to Frosh, has repeatedly said that the evidence against Syed is "overwhelming" and that he continues fighting to preserve Syed's conviction because "what is popular is not always just." Vignarajah says "He did it, and the state proved it."^[48][54]

On 29 March 2018, Maryland's Court of Special Appeals upheld a ruling that Syed was entitled to a new trial, based on the alibi witness.^[53] On 14 May 2018, Frosh's office appealed the ruling.