Court Opinion

ID: 9430240
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:29:19.069674+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:23.856121
License: Public Domain

Justice Stevens,
dissenting.
The waiver rule adopted by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is neither required nor prohibited by the Federal Magistrates Act. As a product of that court’s supervisory power, it need not conform to the practice followed in other circuits. Hence, despite the appearance of a conflict among the circuits, the interest in uniform interpretation of federal law is not implicated and this Court might have been well advised simply to deny the petition for certio-rari. Since the Court has elected to review the application of the Sixth Circuit’s rule, however, I believe it should modify it in one respect.
As the Court demonstrates, in most cases it is surely permissible to treat the failure to file timely objections to a magistrate’s report as a waiver of the right to review, not only in the district court, but in the court of appeals as well. But our precedents often recognize an exception to waiver rules — namely, when a reviewing court decides the merits of an issue even though a procedural default relieved it of the duty to do so. See, e. g., Oklahoma City v. Tuttle, 471 U. S. 800, 815-816 (1985) (reaching merits despite failure to object to jury instruction because Court of Appeals overlooked default); On Lee v. United States, 343 U. S. 747, 750, n. 3 (1952) (“Though we think the Court of Appeals would have been within its discretion in refusing to consider the point, their having passed on it leads us to treat the merits also”). It is for this reason that we may disregard a procedural default in a state trial court if a state appellate court addresses the federal issue. E. g., Ulster County Court v. *158Allen, 442 U. S. 140, 149 (1979); Raley v. Ohio, 360 U. S. 423, 436-437 (1959). In such cases, the reasons for relying on the procedural default as a bar to further review are generally, if not always, outweighed by the interest in having the merits of the issue correctly resolved.
A similar exception should be recognized in this case. When the district court elects to exercise its power to review a magistrate’s report de novo and renders an opinion resolving an issue on the merits, there is no danger of “sandbagging” the district judge. See ante, at 148. Moreover, if the district judge has concluded that there is enough merit in a claim to warrant careful consideration and explanation despite the litigant’s failure to object before the magistrate, the interest in minimizing the risk of error should prevail over the interest in requiring strict compliance with procedural rules. Because the District Court decided the merits of petitioner’s claim in this case, I would hold that she has a right to review in the Court of Appeals. To that admittedly limited extent, I respectfully dissent.