§633 Determination of number, locations, and salaries of magistrate judges

Summary

The Director must, within one year immediately following the date of the enactment of the Federal Magistrates Act, study each judicial district to decide how many full-time and part-time magistrate judges are needed, where they should work, and what their salaries under section 634 should be. In these studies the Director must look at local facts like the areas and people served, travel and communications, how much and what kind of work the judges will handle (including work under section 636(b)), and any other important details. The Director should ask for ideas from people with experience, such as district judges, magistrate judges, U.S. attorneys, and bar groups. The goal is to move toward a system of full-time magistrate judges, but the Director may recommend part-time judges where full-time ones are not practical so people accused of federal crimes can be brought before a judge quickly. After the first surveys, the Director reports recommendations to the district courts, the councils, and the conference. District courts tell their councils what they recommend and why; councils pass those recommendations to the conference. The conference then decides the numbers, locations, and salaries, and those decisions take effect in each district when that district court sets the time, but not later than one year after they are issued. Later, the conference may change numbers, locations, or salaries as needed based on new recommendations.