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46-452: District Judge may refer to: A United States federal judge , appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate A judge in a state court (United States) , where the state is divided into judicial districts Judiciary of England and Wales § District judges A judge in the district courts of India The short name for a judge of

92-475: A resident magistrate Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title District Judge . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=District_Judge&oldid=1189489293 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

138-685: A binding judgment from an Article I tribunal. The office of United States magistrate judge was established by the Federal Magistrates Act of 1968. Its foundation is the United States commissioner system, established in 1793. Commissioners were previously used in federal courts to try petty offense cases committed on federal property, to issue search warrants and arrest warrants, to determine bail for federal defendants and to conduct other initial proceedings in federal criminal cases. The Federal Magistrates Act of 1968, as amended,

184-552: A certain time period. Filing of such a declination causes the magistrate judge to return the case to the court clerk for a standard assignment to a district-magistrate pair. Because Article III of the United States Constitution vests the judicial powers in courts to which the judges are appointed for life (and which are therefore called Article III tribunals), decisions of a magistrate judge are subject to review and either approval, modification or reversal by

230-550: A changing workload in that district. Although the number of Supreme Court justices has remained the same for well over a century, the number of court of appeals judges has more than doubled since 1950, and the number of district court judges has increased more than three-fold in that period. In addition, some district court judges serve on more than one court at a time. Unlike the judges of Article III courts, non-Article III judges are appointed for specified terms of office. Examples include United States magistrate judges and judges of

276-586: A district judge can hear appeals and a circuit judge can try cases). Many federal judges serve on administrative panels like the judicial council for their circuit or the Judicial Conference of the United States . Some of the larger circuit courts like the Ninth Circuit hold regular sessions at multiple locations, and randomly select three-judge panels to hear appeals from all sitting circuit judges regardless of duty station. (Videoconferencing

322-636: A district judge of that court – except in civil cases where the parties consent in advance to allow the magistrate judge to exercise the jurisdiction of the district judge, and in which case appeals from the decision of the magistrate judge are heard by the United States courts of appeals . Magistrate judges therefore operate under the authority of United States Congress to appoint "inferior courts", set forth in Article I , making them Article I judges . The Supreme Court most thoroughly delineated

368-449: A magistrate judge (whose initials are then appended to the case number in most districts). In some districts, magistrate judges are assigned to work with certain district judges, although they may not do so on all categories of cases. In other districts, magistrate judges are randomly assigned to cases. The clerk runs a random selection procedure (in some courts, spinning a wheel ) based on a list of all available district judges and then runs

414-572: A minimum of 10 years of service (70 + 10 = 80). Under section 376 a survivor's annuity to benefit the widow, widower or minor child of the judge may be purchased via a deduction of 2.2% to 3.5% from the retirement benefit. As of 2018 there were 890 authorized Article III judgeships : nine on the Supreme Court, 179 on the courts of appeals, 677 for the US District Courts (includes territorial courts), 16 on

460-491: A particular request. (For example, emergency motions might require a response from only one judge assigned to be on duty for a particular time period, but final decisions in important cases require the whole court.) Appeals courts range in size from 6 ( First Circuit ) to 29 ( Ninth Circuit ). Some judges have specific expertise by virtue of which court they sit on. By statute, the United States Court of Appeals for

506-606: A stepping stone to a lucrative position in private practice, the Framers' goal of a truly independent judiciary will be placed in serious jeopardy." Each federal judge serves at a particular "duty station" for the duration of their federal service. This is important because of the relationship among several federal statutes. First, 28 U.S.C. § 456(a) entitles federal judges to reimbursement of transportation and "subsistence" expenses incurred while transacting official business away from their duty stations. Section 456 also prescribes that

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552-417: A written policy. For reasons of impartiality, this is typically done by a random drawing or rotation. Judges may also be assigned particular types of cases based on their technical expertise or assigned to cases in a specific geographic location. Appeals courts and the Supreme Court use similar systems, but depending on the type of filing, may assign one, three, all, or some other number of judges to deal with

598-469: Is a merit-based process which, by statute, requires public notice of a vacancy and the appointment of a merit selection panel which includes both lawyers and at least two non-lawyers. The panel is required to consider the attributes of each candidate, including scholarship, experience, knowledge of the court system, and personal attributes such as intelligence, honesty and morality, maturity, demeanor, temperament, and ability to work with others. Applicants for

644-419: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages United States federal judge [REDACTED] [REDACTED] In the United States , a federal judge is a judge who serves on a court established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution . Often called " Article III judges ", federal judges include the chief justice and associate justices of

690-409: Is not a separate court; the authority that a magistrate judge exercises is the jurisdiction of the district court itself, delegated to the magistrate judge by the district judges of the court under governing statutory authority, local rules of court, or court orders. Rather than fixing the duties of magistrate judges nationwide, the Federal Magistrates Act allows each district court to assign duties to

736-410: Is not within their purview). They may also be assigned to write reports and recommendations to the district judge as to dispositive matters. With the consent of the parties, they may adjudicate civil cases in the same manner as a district judge, including presiding over jury or non-jury trials. Normally, a newly filed federal action is assigned by the clerk of the district court to a district judge and

782-446: Is sometimes now used to reduce the burden of frequent travel on circuit judges.) The discipline process of federal judges is initiated by the filing of a complaint by any person alleging that a judge has engaged in conduct "prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts, or alleging that such judge is unable to discharge all the duties of the office by reason of mental or physical disability." If

828-491: The Chief Justice of the United States . Chief Justice John Roberts has repeatedly pleaded for an increase in judicial pay, calling the situation "a constitutional crisis that threatens to undermine the strength and independence of the federal judiciary". For some partners at leading law firms , especially in major metropolitan areas, becoming a federal judge can represent a more than 90 percent pay cut. Associates at

874-601: The District Court (Ireland) in the Republic of Ireland The short name for a judge of the district courts of Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka In the judiciary of Northern Ireland : District judge, judge that sits to hear pre-trial applications and small claims cases in the county court , previously known as a circuit registrar District judge, judge that presides over the magistrates' courts, formerly known as

920-562: The U.S. Supreme Court , circuit judges of the U.S. Courts of Appeals , district judges of the U.S. District Courts , and judges of the U.S. Court of International Trade . Federal judges are not elected officials , unlike the president and vice president and U.S. senators and representatives . Instead, they are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The Constitution gives federal judges life tenure , and they hold their seats until they die, resign, or are removed from office through impeachment . Strictly speaking,

966-506: The United States bankruptcy courts , United States Tax Court , United States Court of Federal Claims , and United States territorial courts . Although the term "non-Article III judges" is used to describe the absence of tenure and salary protection, bankruptcy courts are formally designated as divisions of U.S. District Courts, whose district judges are Article III judicial officers. Moreover, in Freytag v. Commissioner , 501 U.S. 868 (1991),

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1012-445: The chief judge of the circuit does not dismiss the complaint or conclude the proceedings, then they must promptly appoint himself or herself, along with equal numbers of circuit judges and district judges, to a special committee to investigate the facts and allegations in the complaint. The committee must conduct such investigation as it finds necessary and then expeditiously file a comprehensive written report of its investigation with

1058-496: The judicial council of the circuit involved. Upon receipt of such a report, the judicial council of the circuit involved may conduct any additional investigation it deems necessary, and it may dismiss the complaint. If a judge who is the subject of a complaint holds their office during good behavior, action taken by the judicial council may include certifying disability of the judge. The judicial council may also, in its discretion, refer any complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 351, along with

1104-752: The Article I tribunals are under the control of the Article III courts. The magistrate judges fall within this category of "adjunct" tribunals. All actions heard in an Article I tribunal are subject to de novo review in the supervising Article III court, which retains the exclusive power to make and enforce final judgments. The Supreme Court later stated, in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Schor , that parties to litigation could voluntarily waive their right to an Article III tribunal, and thereby submit themselves to

1150-462: The Congress, shall be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The Constitution does not provide any eligibility criteria – such as age, literacy , citizenship , legal education , legal/ bar or any professional certification , and legal/judicial experience – for one to be appointed as a federal judge. The primary function of the federal judges is to resolve matters brought before

1196-618: The District of Columbia is the duty station of all members of the U.S. Supreme Court, the D.C. Circuit, the Federal Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Second, there are several reasons federal judges need to transact official business outside of their regular courthouse. 28 U.S.C. §§ 291 and 292 authorize a broad variety of temporary reassignments of circuit and district judges, both horizontally (i.e., to other circuits or districts) and vertically (so that

1242-658: The Federal Circuit has exclusive appellate jurisdiction for patents, trademarks, and certain employee benefits. Because it geographically covers the headquarters of federal agencies, the judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit gain special expertise in administrative and constitutional law. Section 1 of Article Three of the U.S. Constitution provides that federal judges "shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour". This clause has long been interpreted to give federal judges life tenure . Federal judges hold their seats until they resign, die, or are removed from office by impeachment . Although

1288-610: The Supreme Court concluded that the judges of the U.S. Tax Court (and their special trial judges) exercise a portion of "the judicial power of the United States." United States magistrate judges Magistrate judges are appointed by a majority vote of the federal district judges of a particular district and serve terms of eight years if full-time, or four years if part-time, and may be reappointed. As of March 2009 there were 517 full-time and 42 part-time authorized magistrate judgeships, as well as one position combining magistrate judge and clerk of court . The magistrate judge's seat

1334-589: The US Court of Federal Claims* and nine on the Court of International Trade . The total number of active federal judges is constantly in flux, for two reasons. First, judges retire or die, and a lapse of time occurs before new judges are appointed to fill those positions. Second, from time to time Congress will increase (or, less frequently, decrease) the number of federal judgeships in a particular judicial district, usually in response to shifting population numbers or

1380-427: The United States federal courts. Most federal courts in the United States are courts of limited jurisdiction, meaning that they hear only cases for which jurisdiction is authorized by the United States constitution or federal statutes. Federal district courts are authorized to hear a wide range of civil and criminal cases. District court judges are recognized as having a certain degree of inherent authority to manage

1426-505: The district judge. The Supreme Court has held in Peretz v. United States that magistrate judges may supervise the jury selection in a felony trial unless a party objects. In civil proceedings, magistrate judges typically manage discovery and other pretrial matters. They are authorized to issue orders in pretrial matters as long as the order is not dispositive of the case as a whole (for example, an order granting summary judgment

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1472-468: The ever-increasing importance of their work. One view is that the system has worked relatively well in the last 30 years, and has tended to shift the federal courts' caseload to the desired balance. Other legal observers have criticized the increasing powers of magistrate judges, who are neither appointed by the President nor confirmed by the Senate. On the other hand, the selection of a magistrate judge

1518-543: The federal government, they do not have life tenure, and their authority derives from Congress via Article One of the Constitution , not independently via Article Three. These judges are often known as "Article One judges". According to the Appointments Clause of Article Two of the U.S. Constitution , all federal judges, including the judges of the Supreme Court and inferior federal courts created by

1564-440: The financial blow is to spend only a few years on the bench and then return to private practice or go into private arbitration, but such turnover creates a risk of a revolving door judiciary subject to regulatory capture . Roberts has warned that "judges are no longer drawn primarily from among the best lawyers in the practicing bar" and "If judicial appointment ceases to be the capstone of a distinguished career and instead becomes

1610-497: The largest U.S. law firms with judicial clerkship experience already earn as much as a federal judge in their first year as full-time associates. When those attorneys eventually become experienced partners and reach the stage in life where one would normally consider switching to public service, their interest in joining the judiciary is tempered by the prospect of a giant pay cut back to what they were making 10 to 20 years earlier (adjusted for inflation). One way for attorneys to soften

1656-839: The legal orthodoxy is that judges cannot be removed from office except by Congressional impeachment, several legal scholars, including William Rehnquist , Saikrishna Prakash , and Steven D. Smith, have argued that the Good Behavior Clause may, in theory, permit removal by way of a writ of scire facias filed before a federal court, without resort to impeachment. Deaths of United States federal judges in active service may also have profound political and procedural effects, as such circumstances present substantially less opportunity for preparation for an orderly succession. As of 2024, federal judges' annual salaries are: $ 246,300 for district judges, $ 257,900 for circuit judges, $ 298,500 for associate Supreme Court justices , and $ 312,200 for

1702-652: The magistrate judges as fits the needs of that court. In criminal proceedings, magistrate judges preside over misdemeanor and petty offense cases, and as to all criminal cases (felony and misdemeanor) may issue search warrants , arrest warrants , and summonses , accept criminal complaints, conduct initial appearance proceedings and detention hearings , set bail or other conditions of release or detention, hold preliminary hearings and examinations, administer oaths , conduct extradition proceedings, and conduct evidentiary hearings on motions to suppress evidence in felony cases for issuance of reports and recommendations to

1748-437: The matters before them, ranging from setting the dates for trials and hearings to holding parties in contempt or otherwise sanctioning them for improper behavior. In other circumstances their actions are dictated by federal law, the federal rules of procedure, or "local" rules created by the specific court system itself. The chief judge of each district court is responsible for overseeing assignments of judges to cases, following

1794-555: The mechanism of lifetime appointments. However, the Court also found that Congress has the power under Article I to create adjunct tribunals , so long as the "essential attributes of judicial power" stay in Article III courts. This power derives from two sources. First, when Congress creates rights, it can require those asserting such rights to go through an Article I tribunal. Second, Congress can create non-Article III tribunals to help Article III courts deal with their workload, but only if

1840-495: The permissible scope of Article I tribunals in Northern Pipeline Construction Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co. , striking down the statute that created the original U.S. bankruptcy court. The Court held in that opinion that the framers of the Constitution had developed a scheme of separation of powers which clearly required that the judicial branch be kept independent of the other two branches via

1886-435: The post must be personally interviewed and recommended for the position. Magistrate judges are compensated at a slightly lower scale than district judges and do not benefit from the full array of benefits accorded to district judges, so increased magistrate judge involvement in judicial matters has a cost-savings effect for the federal courts. A number of states have judges titled as magistrates. These positions are unrelated to

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1932-418: The record of any associated proceedings and its recommendations for appropriate action, to the Judicial Conference of the United States . The Judicial Conference may exercise its authority under the judicial discipline provisions as a conference, or through a standing committee appointed by the chief justice. Judges who meet their age and service requirements may retire and will then earn their final salary for

1978-691: The remainder of their life, plus cost-of-living increases. The "Rule of 80" is the commonly used shorthand for the age and service requirement for a judge to retire, or assume senior status , as set forth in Title 28 of the U.S. Code, section 371(c). Beginning at age 65, judges may retire at their current salary, or take senior status, after performing 15 years of active service as an Article III judge (65 + 15 = 80). A sliding scale of increasing age and decreasing service (66 + 14, 67 + 13, 68 + 12, 69 + 11) results in eligibility for retirement compensation at age 70 with

2024-498: The same procedure based on a list of all available magistrate judges. In a few districts, starting with the District of Oregon in 1984, magistrate judges participate together with district judges on a unified list of judges available for new cases. A newly filed case can then be assigned to a magistrate judge for all purposes, subject to the ability of any party in the action to affirmatively decline consent to that procedure within

2070-527: The term "federal judge" does not include U.S. magistrate judges or the judges of lesser federal tribunals such as the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts , the U.S. Court of Federal Claims , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces , the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims , the U.S. Tax Court , and other " Article One tribunals ". Nor does it apply to the administrative law judges of federal government agencies. Although these judges serve on courts of

2116-510: Was enacted by the Congress to create a new federal judicial officer who would (1) assume all the former duties of the commissioners and (2) conduct a wide range of judicial proceedings to expedite the disposition of the civil and criminal caseloads of the United States district courts. In 1979, Congress expanded federal magistrates' authority to include all misdemeanors recognized by the federal criminal code. Magistrates' titles changed again in 1990, when they became "magistrate judges," symbolizing

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