Reading Room Document

Use of United States Magistrates -- Policy and Constitutional Questions

The OLC in this memo considered the constitutional and policy limits on the use of U.S. magistrates, officials appointed by U.S. District Courts to assist judges on a full- or part-time basis. The OLC advised that under Article III of the Constitution, federal judicial power is nondelegable to individuals, like magistrates, who lack good behavior tenure. Recognizing that the Supreme Court had declined to take up the question of whether the use of magistrate judges constituted a delegation of judicial power, the OLC referred back to its own recommendation that judicial decisions on matters of law must be made by judicial officers. It continued to note, however, that nothing in the policy statement indicated opposition to the use of magistrates in the limited capacity they already served in federal criminal cases––conducting trials and imposing sentences for minor offenses, where the defendant had the right to insist upon an Article III judge.

March 27, 1974