Procedure

Magistrate Judge

A federal judicial officer who handles pretrial matters and writes reports and recommendations on dispositive motions. In many districts, every pro se case is referred to one.

What It Is

A magistrate judge is a federal judicial officer appointed by the district judges of a district for an eight-year term. Magistrate judges are not Article III judges. Their authority comes from 28 U.S.C. § 636.

District judges refer work to magistrate judges to manage their dockets. In many districts, including the Northern District of Texas, every case filed by a person without a lawyer is referred to a magistrate judge automatically.

What a Magistrate Judge Can Decide

The rules split matters into two groups.

Nondispositive matters. Discovery disputes, scheduling, extensions, and similar pretrial issues. The magistrate judge decides these by order. You may object within 14 days, and the district judge sets the order aside only if it is clearly erroneous or contrary to law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(a).

Dispositive matters. Motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, motions for injunctive relief, and anything else that can end a claim. The magistrate judge cannot decide these unless both sides consent. Instead, the magistrate judge writes a report and recommendation. The district judge then adopts, rejects, or modifies it. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b).

If every party consents in writing, a magistrate judge can conduct the entire case, including trial and final judgment. 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). The court will send you a consent form early in the case. Consent is voluntary. Declining it carries no penalty, and the district judge must not be told who declined.

Think carefully before consenting. A consent case moves faster, and appeal goes directly to the court of appeals. But you give up the second look that the district judge provides on dispositive motions.

Why It Matters in a Section 1983 Case

Most Section 1983 cases filed without a lawyer are decided, in practice, by the magistrate judge’s report and recommendation on the motion to dismiss. The district judge usually adopts it. Your objections are the one chance to get a fresh review. See the process step on responding to a report and recommendation.

Key Authority

28 U.S.C. § 636 — powers of magistrate judges
Fed. R. Civ. P. 72 — objections to magistrate judge orders and recommendations
Fed. R. Civ. P. 73 — consent to magistrate judge trial

Articles Using This Term

Before You File Anything: Local Rules and Your Judge's Standing Orders

The seven questions to answer about your district and your judges before filing a single document in a Section 1983 case, where to find the answers, and a worksheet to keep them.

What Do I File, and By When? A Section 1983 Deadline Map

One table that maps every common docket event in a Section 1983 case to the document you file in response and the federal deadline for filing it.

After Judgment: Rule 59(e) and the Postjudgment Motion for Leave to Amend

What to do when the court dismisses your Section 1983 case with prejudice and enters judgment without letting you amend. The 28-day Rule 59(e) motion, manifest error, futility, and how to keep the record clean for appeal.

How to Research Your Federal Judge Before You File

What to read about the district judge and magistrate judge assigned to your Section 1983 case, where to find it for free, what not to research, and how to use what you learn without predicting or pandering.