THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF ALASKA
In the matter of
CONSENT TO MAGISTRATE JUDGE IN MISCELLANEOUS GENERAL ORDER
SOCIAL SECURITY LITIGATION 23-05
The Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Alaska have
approved new procedures for consent to United States Magistrate Judges presiding
over certain civil cases. The goal of these new procedures is to increase the
percentage of consent cases.
This Court direct assigns a percentage of the following civil cases to its
Magistrate Judges, including the authority to preside at trial and enter a final
judgment:
• Cases in which a plaintiff seeks review, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §
405(g), of an unfavorable decision by the Commissioner of Social
Security.
Consent to a Magistrate Judge is voluntary. When a case is direct assigned
to a Magistrate Judge, all parties will be provided with a declination of consent
form. Any party may decline consent to the Magistrate Judge by signing and timely
submitting the declination of consent form to the Court by either emailing or
mailing it.
Effective as of the date of this Order, each party will be deemed to have
knowingly and voluntarily consented to proceed before the assigned
Magistrate Judge if the declination of consent form is not emailed to the Court
or postmarked for mail delivery to the Court by the date stated on the form.
If a party declines consent, the clerk will immediately reassign the case to a
District Judge by random selection. No judge will be informed of which party
declined consent to the Magistrate Judge. The case may be referred to the
Magistrate Judge to whom it was initially assigned.
This new procedure shall apply to all of the above-described civil cases filed
after October 30, 2023, that have been randomly assigned to a United States
Magistrate Judge.
The new consent procedures form and this MGO are available to review on
the Court’s web site, https://www.akd.uscourts.gov.
IT IS SO ORDERED this 19th day of October 2023.
/s/ Sharon L. Gleason
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
DISTRICT OF ALASKA
Distribution:
District & Magistrate Judges U.S. Attorney
Clerk of Court Federal Public Defender
Court Rules Attorney U.S. Marshal
US Probation & Pretrial Court Librarian
Alaska Bar Assn
