The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas is seeking qualified applicants for a full-time magistrate judge position at Dallas. 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 such as: (1) conduct most preliminary proceedings in criminal cases; (2) trial and disposition of misdemeanor cases; (3) conduct various pretrial matters and evidentiary proceedings on delegation from a district judge; and (4) trial and disposition of civil cases upon consent of the litigants. 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:
- Be and have been for at least five 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, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, or Virgin Islands of the United States, and have engaged in the active practice of law for a period of at least five years (with some substitutes authorized).
- 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;
- Be less than 70 years old; and
- Not be related to a judge of the district court.
Applications must be received on or by midnight on Friday, January 19, 2024. For more information, please view the notice of vacancy.