Peretz v. United States
Peretz v. United States | |
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Case history | |
Prior | Defendant was charged with importing heroin. A federal magistrate conducted jury selection, and defendant acquiesced, raising no objection in the district court. On appeal, he contended that the magistrate's conducting jury selection violated his rights under Article III of the Constitution. The Second Circuit disagreed; cert. granted. |
Holding | |
If the parties consent, Article III and the Federal Magistrates Act allow a district court to delegate to a magistrate judge the responsibility for managing jury selection in a felony trial. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Stevens, joined by Rehnquist, O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter |
Dissent | Marshall, joined by White, Blackmun |
Dissent | Scalia |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const. art. III , Federal Magistrates Act, 28 U.S.C. § 636 |
Peretz v. United States, 501 U.S. 923 (1991), was a
Background
Peretz and a co-defendant had been indicted on
Opinion of the Court
In an opinion by Justice Stevens, the Court upheld Peretz's conviction.
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
A magistrate at voir dire does not implicate constitutional concerns
Although the involvement of an Article III judge is a personal right, it is a right that can be waived. In the course of a criminal proceeding, defendants are asked to waive many rights; the right to the involvement of an Article III judge at jury selection imposes little marginal cost on him. Furthermore, the decision to involve a magistrate in the first place rests with an Article III judge, and the parties may veto that decision. Article III judges retain "total control and jurisdiction" over the entire process, and must review the magistrate judge's decisions de novo if the parties ask. For the same reason that involving a magistrate judge does not implicate due process concerns (United States v. Raddatz), it does not implicate Article III concerns either.
Dissenting opinions
Justice Marshall's dissent
Justice Marshall disagreed that the parties' consent could vitiate the involvement of a magistrate. Congress did not, after all, specify jury selection in the Federal Magistrates Act. For Justice Marshall, the defendant's consent did not change this. Congress limited a magistrate's involvement to misdemeanors and other relatively minor roles, and jury selection is a major event in a felony trial. Furthermore, Congress did not allow an Article III judge to review the magistrate's involvement in jury selection. When the Court had previously ruled that the defendant's consent was the deciding factor in the propriety of a magistrate's involvement, it had also rested on a district judge's review of that involvement. Because there is none with respect to jury selection, a defendant's consent was not enough for Justice Marshall to extend a magistrate's involvement any further than Congress had expressly allowed.
Furthermore, Justice Marshall disputed that a magistrate's involvement in jury selection was consistent with Article III. The right to an Article III judge rests on his political independence and his role as a check and balance against the other two branches. The first of these is a personal right and therefore waivable. The second, however, is structural, and therefore unwaivable. Justice Marshall was willing to accede to the involvement of a magistrate if there would be de novo review in the district court. To justify a magistrate's involvement based on consent in the absence of judicial review went too far for Justice Marshall.
Justice Scalia's dissent
Because the Court's previous decision came while Peretz's case was pending in the court of appeals, Justice Scalia reasoned that the magistrate judge's involvement was plain error that affected Peretz's substantial rights. In Justice Scalia's view, the Government conceded that the Federal Magistrates Act did not authorize the magistrate's involvement in Peretz's jury selection, as Justice Marshall observed. Accordingly, Justice Scalia would have overturned Peretz's conviction.
See also
- List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 501
- List of United States Supreme Court cases
- Lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume
- List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Rehnquist Court
References
External links
- Works related to Peretz v. United States at Wikisource
- Text of Peretz v. United States, 501 U.S. 923 (1991) is available from: Cornell Findlaw Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)