Court Opinion

ID: 9430239
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:29:19.06731+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:23.855185
License: Public Domain

*156Justice Brennan,
with whom Justice Blackmun joins, dissenting.
Under the rule adopted by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and sanctioned by this Court, a party waives his right to appeal the judgment of the district court by failing to file timely objections to a magistrate’s report. Because this rule conflicts with the plain language of the Federal Magistrate’s Act, I dissent.
The Magistrate’s Act states that “any party may serve and file written objections to [the magistrate’s] proposed findings and recommendations. ... A judge of the court shall make a de novo determination of those portions of the report or specified proposed findings or recommendations to which objection is made.” 28 U. S. C. § 636(b)(1)(C). The Act clearly specifies the penalty for a party’s failure to file objections to the magistrate’s report — the party loses his right to de novo review by the district court. The Act does not require a party to file objections. And it does not, contrary to the Sixth Circuit’s rule, provide that a party’s failure to file objections deprives him of the right to any review by the district court,* or by the court of appeals. Rather, the district court judge retains the power, and indeed the obligation, to “accept, reject, or modify” the magistrate’s findings and recommendations. 28 U. S. C. § 636(b)(1)(C). The Act leaves unaffected a party’s right to appeal the judgment of the district court to the court of appeals.
A habeas applicant is entitled to appeal only the final order of the district court. 28 U. S. C. §2253. I fail to understand how petitioner could have waived her right to appeal a final order before that order was rendered. The majority attempts to justify this result by characterizing the Sixth Circuit’s rule as a simple exercise of its supervisory powers. *157While I do not question the Court of Appeals’ authority to promulgate reasonable procedural rules, I would not sanction a rule that imposes a penalty for failure to file objections beyond that contemplated by Congress. Because the Sixth Circuit’s “supervisory rule” unlawfully deprives petitioner of her statutory right to appeal the District Court’s judgment, I respectfully dissent.

The absence of an objection cannot “reliev[e] the district court of its obligation to act judicially, to decide for itself whether the Magistrate’s report is correct.” Lorin Corp. v. Goto & Co., 700 F. 2d 1202, 1206 (CA8 1983).