In his regular column on November 9, 2010 for the Legal Intelligencer Peter Vaira proposed that Magistrate Judges be considered for appointment to the federal district court bench. To date no magistrate judges have been appointed to the Eastern District bench. Vaira gave a history of the expansion of the powers of the Magistrate Judges, and the history of their acceptance in the Eastern District. Vaira cautioned that the magistrate judge bench should not be the only source of candidates for the district bench, as that practice would exclude experienced trial lawyers and state trial judges.
For a full text of this article see http://www.vairariley.com/CM/Custom/Magistrate-Judges-As-Candidates.asp
