District Court Magistrate’s Authority to Issue Search Warrants

2.21District Court Magistrate’s Authority to Issue Search Warrants

“Notwithstanding statutory provisions to the contrary, district court magistrates exercise only those duties expressly authorized by the chief judge of the district or division.” MCR 4.401(B). Accordingly, a district court magistrate has the jurisdiction and duty “[t]o issue search warrants, if [so] authorized[.]” MCL 600.8511(g). See also MCL 780.651(1); MCL 780.651(3). The term search warrant includes administrative search warrants issued outside the criminal context. Richter v Dep’t of Natural Resources, 172 Mich App 658, 664-665 (1988).

The chief judge of the district court may grant “blanket authorization” to magistrates to issue search warrants; the authorization need not be on a case-by-case basis. People v Paul, 444 Mich 949 (1994).

Although MCL 600.8511 does not require that the authorization to issue search warrants be in writing, effective January 1, 2010, AO 2009-6 requires the district court to submit a local administrative order (LAO) specifying each magistrate’s authorized duties. See LAO 3a and 3b.¹

MCL 780.651(3) authorizes “[a] . . . district court magistrate [to] issue a written search warrant in person or by any electronic or electromagnetic means of communication, including by facsimile or over a computer network.” Furthermore, “[a] . . . district court magistrate may sign an electronically issued search warrant when he or she is at any location in this state.” MCL 780.651(4).

District court magistrates may also issue search warrants in an adjoining district or in other districts within a county if there is a multiple district plan in place. MCL 600.8320.

A search warrant may be executed outside the district, but within the State of Michigan, in which the magistrate is appointed to serve. People v Fiorillo, 195 Mich App 701, 704 (1992) (“No constitutional or statutory limits exist which prevent the district court from issuing search warrants to be executed outside the county of issuance. Since there is only one district court within the state, there is no need for explicit statutory authorization allowing the district court to issue statewide search warrants.”)²

¹LAO 3a and 3b, which are model administrative orders, can be downloaded from the Michigan One Court of Justice website.

²This case does not address whether a magistrate or judge has the authority to issue a search warrant for an underlying case which will be heard in another district court.