Does a federal magistrate have authority to accept a felony guilty plea?

QUESTION PRESENTED FOR REVIEW The circuits are divided on whether the Federal Magistrates Act’s “additional duties” clause, 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(3), authorizes magistrates to accept a felony guilty plea. The Eleventh Circuit concluded that a magistrate’s acceptance of petitioner’s guilty plea was statutorily authorized, that the district court was not required to enter an order authorizing a plea, and that no order or report by the magistrate upon acceptance of the plea was required; that rules governing appeal from a magistrate’s ruling were inapplicable; and that by stipulating that proffered facts supported the plea, petitioner was barred from appealing, even on a plain error basis, the absence of any factual basis for the plea accepted by the magistrate. The questions presented are: 1. Does a federal magistrate have authority to accept a felony guilty plea? 2. Where a plea agreement provides that stipulated facts present an adequate basis to sustain a guilty plea, is the right to appeal the district court’s failure to elicit a sufficient factual basis waived, precluding even plain error review? i INTERESTED PARTIES The only parties interested in the proceeding other than those named in the caption of the appellate decision. ii