I saw the articles such as this one indicating that Robert Ballou from Roanoke has been selected as the next Magistrate Judge for the Western District of Virginia. Magistrate Judge Ballou will succeed Judge Urbanski.
The one and only time I was ever called for jury duty was an honor code matter at the University of Virginia, and when I showed up for the trial, the honor committee functionary who told me to go home because the trial was canceled was Rob Ballou. I told him that story when our paths crossed over as lawyers some years later and he remembered the case.
Notwithstanding the complaints from some quarters about the conditions for the members of the federal judiciary, it seems that good candidates appear for every vacancy.
