ith Sen. Dianne Feinstein recommending Phyllis Hamilton for a seat on the Northern District federal bench, local magistrate judges have renewed hope that their long hours spent toiling anonymously on often tedious work could pay off in a promotion.
Prior to 1994, magistrate judges -- who are appointed by district court judges -- had little hope of garnering a presidential bench appointment, leaving the job to be viewed as a thankless dead end. But that year, Claudia Wilken, who served as a magistrate judge for 11 years, was elevated to the district court. Wilken was the first-ever magistrate to ascend to the Northern District court, a fact that gave the magistrate position instant cachet.
Immediately after Wilken's elevation, a slew of applicants from prestigious downtown firms vied to fill vacant magistrate positions in the district. But in the last few years, hopes for promotion once again sagged as magistrate judges were passed over for district court vacancies.
Hamilton's expected ascension to the district court may rekindle interest in the magistrate position. While President Clinton has yet to formally nominate Hamilton, that move is all but a foregone conclusion. Clinton routinely nominates judicial candidates recommended by California's two Democratic senators, Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.
What's more, there appears little in Hamilton's background that could lead to trouble in the Senate confirmation process.
True, like Wilken before her, Hamilton spent her career as a lawyer as a California state public defender -- a rare job record for district court candidates nominated by presidents since Jimmy Carter's years in office. For the past two decades, presidents for the most part have shied away from the criminal defense bar for their nominees and instead have preferred prosecutors and white-shoe lawyers to fill judicial vacancies.
But Hamilton really only practiced law for four years after her 1976 graduation from law school. Since 1980, she has -- in one form or another -- served as a judicial officer. She has been an administrative law judge for the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Service and worked as an Alameda County Municipal Court commissioner before becoming a federal magistrate in 1991.
"[Hamilton] is a candidate with sterling professional credentials, legal acumen, judicial demeanor and the keen intellect necessary to succeed on the federal bench," Feinstein wrote in a Sept. 29 letter to Clinton that recommended her for the district court.
If Hamilton is ultimately successful in her bid for the district court, she would replace District Judge Fern Smith, who left the bench in July to head the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, D.C.
But the prospects of that occurring anytime soon appears to be bleak.
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., told the newspaper Roll Call Monday that he plans to block Senate confirmation of all Clinton judicial nominees.
