Consent Allows The Magistrate To Act
There exists a personal right for a litigant in federal court to insist on the involvement of a judge who has been appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate in the manner contemplated by the Constitution. However, the Federal Magistrates Act authorizes magistrate judges to undertake "additional duties" when the parties in a case consent. For magistrates to undertake their routine tasks is a great relief to federal courts in processing their caseloads. When the parties consent, magistrates may supervise entire misdemeanor trials. "These duties are comparable in responsibility and importance to presiding over voir dire at a felony trial." Thus, supervising voir dire is one of the "additional duties" Congress authorized magistrate judges to undertake.
Read more about this topic: Peretz V. United States
Famous quotes containing the words consent, magistrate and/or act:
“To think well and to consent to obey someone giving good advice are the same thing.”
—Herodotus (c. 484–424 B.C.)
“No true believer could be intolerant or a persecutor. If I were a magistrate and the law carried the death penalty against atheists, I would begin by sending to the stake whoever denounced another.”
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
“It is a great act of cleverness to be able to conceal one’s being clever.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)