U.S. Magistrate Judge

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Job Details for U.S. Magistrate Judge

Court Name/Organization: Pennsylvania Middle District Court Overview of the Position: The Judicial Conference of the United States has authorized the appointment of a full-time U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania at Scranton, Pennsylvania, upon the elevation of the Honorable Karoline Mehalchick as a United States District Judge, effective February 6, 2024. The essential function of courts is to dispense justice. An important component of this function is the creation and maintenance of diversity in the court system. A community’s belief that a court dispenses justice is heightened when the court reflects the community’s racial, ethnic, and gender diversity. The duties of the position are demanding and wide-ranging and include the following: (1) To exercise all the powers and duties conferred or imposed upon United States Magistrate Judges by law or the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure or the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure; (2) To administer oaths and affirmations, impose conditions of release under 18 U.S.C. § 3146, and take acknowledgments, affidavits, and depositions; (3) To try persons accused of misdemeanors committed within this district in accordance with 18 U.S.C. § 3401, order presentence investigation reports and sentence such persons; (4) To conduct proceedings in accordance with Fed.R.Cr.P. 40; (5) To conduct extradition proceedings, in accordance with 18 U.S.C. § 3184; (6) To appoint attorneys under the court’s Criminal Justice Act Plan; (7) To review applications by prisoners for post-trial and other relief, make such orders as are necessary to obtain appropriate information which may be of assistance in determining the merits of any complaint, submit reports and recommendations to the district judge having jurisdiction over the case; (8) To act as a special master when designated by the district court; (9) To receive indictments returned by grand juries; (10) To conduct arraignments to the extent of taking a not guilty plea or noting a defendant’s intention to plead guilty or nolo contendere; and (11) Conduct trials and the disposition of civil cases on consent of the parties. The basic authority of a United States Magistrate Judge is specified in 28 U.S.C. § 636. To be qualified for appointment an applicant must:(1) Be, and have been for at least five (5) years, a member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of a state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Territory of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the VirginIslands of the United States, and have been engaged in the active practice of law for aperiod of at least five (5) years;(2) Be competent to perform all the duties of the office; be of good moral character; be emotionally stable and mature; be committed to equal justice under the law; be in good health; be patient and courteous; and be capable of deliberation and decisiveness;(3) Be less than seventy (70) years old; and(4) Not be related to a Judge of the appointing District Court with the degree of relationship specified in 28 U.S.C. § 458, i.e., “by affinity or consanguinity within the first degree of first cousin.”

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