Thurgood Marshall

“ To hold, as the majority does, that a magistrate may likewise conduct jury selection in a felony trial so long as the defendant consents is to treat the magistrate's authority in this part of the felony trial as perfectly coextensive with his authority in civil and misdemeanor trials-the reading of the Act that Gomez categorically rejected. ”

“ The majority simply dismisses altogether the seriousness of the underlying constitutional question: " [W] e have no trouble concluding that there is no Article III problem when a district court judge permits a magistrate to conduct voir dire in accordance with the defendant's consent." Ante, at 932. The majority's self-confidence is unfounded. It is only by unacceptably manipulating our Article III teachings that the majority succeeds in avoiding the difficulty that attends its construction of the Act. ”

“ The majority contends that magistrate jury selection raises no Article III structural difficulties, because " 'the entire process takes place under the district court's total control and jurisdiction.' " Ante, at 937, quoting Raddatz, supra, 447 U.S., at 681, 100 S.Ct., at 2415. However, as Raddatz and Schor underscore, the requirement of "the district court's total control and jurisdiction" must include the availability of meaningful judicial review of the magistrate's actual rulings at jury selection. ”

“ If district judges are willing to experiment with the assignment to magistrates of other functions in aid of the business of the courts, there will be increased time available to judges for the careful and unhurried performance of their vital and traditional adjudicatory duties, and a consequent benefit to both efficiency and the quality of justice in the Federal courts. ”

“ Unable to support its revisionist construction of the Act with what we said in Gomez, the majority seeks to bolster its construction by noting that, provided the parties consent, magistrates may conduct civil and misdemeanor trials and that " [t] hese duties are comparable in responsibility and importance to presiding over voir dire at a felony trial." ”

“ Marathon Pipe Line Co., 458 U.S. 50, 90, 102 S.Ct. 2858, 2881, 73 L.Ed.2d 598 (1982) (Rehnquist, J., concurring in judgment) ("Particularly in an area of constitutional law such as that of 'Art. III Courts,' with its frequently arcane distinctions and confusing precedents, rigorous adherence to the principle that this Court should decide no more of a constitutional question than is absolutely necessary accords with both our decided cases and with sound judicial policy") . ”