Also known as: magister · magisters · magistrates · magistratic · magistratus · magistracy · judicial officer
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A judicial officer who exercises limited authority over specified matters such as issuing warrants, conducting initial appearances, and performing solemnization ceremonies. The officer must remain neutral and detached when authorizing government action that affects individual liberty or property.
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Morgan, in-house counsel for Valley Regional Hospital, learns that Judge Ellis wants to form a company selling paid evaluations to litigants appearing in Ellis's court. Morgan drafts the operating agreement knowing Ellis will profit from fees paid by parties with cases before him. The arrangement violates judicial conduct rules, and Morgan's assistance subjects the lawyer to discipline under the prohibition on knowingly aiding judicial misconduct.
Detectives obtain a search warrant from a magistrate judge based on an affidavit that later proves insufficient to establish probable cause. Officers execute the warrant in objective good faith without knowing of the defect. Evidence seized is admissible because the officers reasonably relied on the neutral magistrate's issuance of the warrant.
An agent applies for an arrest warrant by telephone after a suspect flees across state lines. The magistrate judge places the agent under oath, elicits the facts supporting probable cause, and issues the warrant. The procedure satisfies the rule allowing a magistrate to receive information by reliable electronic means when deciding whether to issue process.
Hailey appears before a deputized clerk to obtain a marriage license while Elizabeth remains abroad. Elizabeth sends a signed proxy authorization for her brother to stand in during the ceremony. A judicial officer later performs the solemnization, satisfying the requirement that a marriage be solemnized by a judicial officer or member of the clergy after a proper license issues.
A district judge refers all pretrial matters in a civil coverage action to a magistrate judge. During a telephone status conference the magistrate hears detailed factual recitations from counsel. The Federal Rules of Evidence govern the conference because it occurs before a magistrate judge in a United States district court proceeding.
Federal agents arrest a defendant in the district where the offense allegedly occurred. No magistrate judge is reasonably available at that hour. The agents bring the defendant before a state judicial officer for the initial appearance, satisfying the rule that permits presentment before a state or local judicial officer when a magistrate judge cannot be reached promptly.
Officers may rely on the warrant if they act in objectively reasonable good faith and the magistrate was neutral and detached. Suppression is required only when the warrant is facially deficient, the magistrate abandoned neutrality, or officers misled the magistrate with false information.
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A lawyer is subject to discipline for knowingly assisting a magistrate or other judicial officer in conduct that violates applicable rules of judicial conduct or other law. Drafting documents that enable a judge to profit from litigants appearing in the judge's own court constitutes knowing assistance.
…if the Secretary refuses shall he not be compelled? There is no difference between a patent for lands and the commission of a judicial officer, the duty of the Secretary is precisely the same. After the President has signed a commission for an office not held at his will and it comes to the Secretary to be sealed, the President…
…as such, seems to have been given effect only in judicial proceedings, including the preliminary examinations by authorized magistrates
…the integrity of the law and of the decisional process. "District courts have delegated more and more of their tasks to magistrates . . . . Time for oral argument is steadily cut back . . . . [T]he practice of delivering written opinions is declining. "..... ". . . Courts are forced to add more clerks, more…
…can invade the home to enforce it, provided, of course, that they obtain a determination of probable cause from a neutral magistrate. One of the reasons for the Court's holding in Griswold v. Connecticut , 381 U. S. 479 (1965), was precisely the possibility, and repugnance, of permitting searches to obtain evidence…
…of punishment are two distinct considerations. Cf. the House debate in 1930 over a bill to provide for a trial before federal magistrates for crimes of a petty nature, 72 Cong. Rec. 9991-9994; see also H. R. Rep. No. 1699, 71st Cong., 2d Sess. (1930) (minority views); Comments, American Bar Association Project on Standards…
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Yes. A magistrate judge may consider information communicated by telephone or other reliable electronic means when reviewing a complaint or deciding whether to issue a warrant or summons, provided the judge places the applicant under oath and follows the required procedures.
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A marriage may be solemnized by a ceremony performed by a judicial officer or a member of the clergy after the parties obtain a proper license. A motivational speaker hired by an employer does not qualify as either category.
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Yes. The rules apply to proceedings before United States magistrate judges in both civil and criminal cases, including status conferences and non-summary contempt hearings that arise from matters referred by a district judge.
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When the defendant is arrested in the district where the offense was allegedly committed and no magistrate judge is reasonably available, the initial appearance may be held before a state or local judicial officer.
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