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Job Details for U.S. Magistrate Judge

Court Name/Organization Texas Western District Court
Overview of the Position The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas is accepting applications for the appointment of a full-time U.S. Magistrate Judge in Waco, Texas. Filling this U.S. Magistrate Judge position is contingent upon approval of the Judicial Conference Committee on the Administration of the Magistrate Judges System. The duties of the positions are demanding and wide-ranging: (1) conduct most of the preliminary proceedings in criminal cases; (2) trial and disposition of misdemeanor cases; (3) conduct of 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 U.S. Magistrate Judge is specified in 28 U.S.C. § 636.
Location Waco, TX
Opening and Closing Dates 05/09/2025 - 06/06/2025
Appointment Type Permanent
Salary Starting: $227,608

Qualifications

To be qualified for appointment, an applicant must:

  1. 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, the Territory of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands of the United States,
  2. Have been engaged in the active practice of law for at least five years (with some substitutes authorized),
  3. 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,
  4. Be less than seventy years old; and
  5. Not be related to a judge of the district court.

Application Info

A merit selection panel composed of attorneys and other community members will review all applicants and recommend to the district judges in confidence the five persons it considers best qualified. The Court will make the appointment following an F.B.I. full-field investigation and an I.R.S. tax check of the applicant selected by the Court for the appointment. The individual selected must comply with the financial disclosure requirements pursuant to the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, Pub. L. No. 95-521, 90 Stat. 1824 (1978)(codified at 5 U.S.C. app. 4 §§ 101-111) as implemented by the Judicial Conference of the United States. An affirmative effort will be made to give due consideration to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, age (40 and over), gender, religion, national origin, or disability.

The current annual salary of the position is $ 227,608.00. The term of office is eight years. 

All applications will be kept confidential unless the applicant consents to the disclosure. All applications will be examined only by members of the merit selection panel and the district court judges. The panel’s deliberations will remain confidential.

This public notice, application forms, and application submission procedures are posted on our website at USDC Texas Western or www.txwd.uscourts.gov.court>info>jobs.

Questions may be directed to Human Resources, 210-249-4034. The application must be received no later than 5 p.m. CT on Friday, June 6, 2025.

The federal Judiciary is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.