Court Opinion

ID: 9475706
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:36:14.368874+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:53.285942
License: Public Domain

CLARK, Chief Judge,
dissenting:
The majority defines the issue in terms of the district court jurisdiction and denies *1138review. I believe we should ask whether this court must notice a critical defect in the use of article III judicial power.
The majority correctly observes that the district court had jurisdiction of the parties and the subject matter of this action. But this begs the important question. Had an article III district judge conducted the jury trial in this case, his power to enter judgment on the ensuing verdict would raise no question. This is not what happened. The district court improperly referred the case to a magistrate. Then a jury was empaneled and the trial was conducted by a person who had no authority to conduct such a trial under the statutes of the United States or under the rules of the court. Finally, the district judge entered judgment on the verdict resulting from a proceeding conducted by one who lacked any authority to preside. The magistrate was as much a legal stranger to the judicial process that determined the outcome of this proceeding as would have been a bystander called in from the street. Is this “close enough for government work?” Must this court be blind to the error if the parties do not bring it to our notice? I think not.
If (and this “if” is a debatable one1) the statute governing proceedings before magistrates is constitutional, consent of the parties must be obtained. Such consent was lacking. The majority does not base its holding on implied consent. Indeed, it directs that in all future cases voluntary, express consent must be present.
I concur in the portion of the opinion entitled “The Necessity for Consent.” Indeed, I would go further and now eliminate from our jurisprudence all question as to the conflict between Rasberry v. Smith, 759 F.2d 20 (5th Cir.1985) (unpublished opinion), holding consent can be implied, and Parks v. Collins, 761 F.2d 1101, 1106 (5th Cir.1985), and Trufant v. Autocon, Inc., 729 F.2d 308, 309 (5th Cir.1984), holding that consent must be express by specifically overruling Rasberry.
The panel characterized the situation in Archie as one in which the magistrate lacked jurisdiction. It reasoned that (1) Ford v. Estelle established he could not conduct a jury trial under the district court’s reference pursuant to § 636(b)(1)(B) and (b)(3); and (2) he could not enter a final judgment under § 636(c) because he lacked consent.
The majority’s premise is that the jurisdictional test should be administered to the district court, not its officer — the magistrate. If this be conceded, it merely serves to advance the question to whether this court is bound to notice a breach of the statutory and decisional limits on the exercise of article III judicial power of the United States by a non-article III official. I respectfully submit such unauthorized action cannot be put beyond our independent notice by the adopting stamp of the district judge. The proper exercise of our error-correction function ought not to be limited to making a precatory rule for future cases.
Magistrates are a valuable adjunct to article III judges. But they do not hold office under article III. Congress cannot confer full article III power on them without abridging the Constitution. Cf. Northern Pipeline Construction Co. v. Marathon Pipe Line Co., 458 U.S. 50, 102 S.Ct. 2858, 73 L.Ed.2d 598 (1982). The limited delegation of article III power to conduct jury trials and to enter final judgments based on such trials is cabined by express consent. Puryear v. Ede’s Ltd., 731 F.2d 1153 (5th Cir.1984). The importance of strict compliance with this essential requirement is the nub of my disagreement. In the constitutional scheme of things, it is, in my view, of a significance equivalent to jurisdiction. Appellate notice of such error should be under our control, not that of the parties.
I respectfully dissent from that part of the majority opinion entitled “Jurisdiction or Procedure?” and from the conclusion that this court should consider the merits of the unconstitutional proceedings which *1139took place before the magistrate and district court.

. See, e.g., Downs, the Boundaries of Article III, 52 U. of Chicago L.R., 1032.