If the parties consent, a federal magistrate judge may preside over the voir dire and jury selection in a felony criminal trial. Peretz v. United States, 501 U. S. 923, 933. Before petitioner’s federal trial on felony drug charges, his counsel consented to the Magistrate Judge’s presiding over jury selection. Petitioner was not asked for his own consent. After the Magistrate Judge supervised voir dire without objection, a District Judge presided at trial, and the jury returned a guilty verdicton all counts. Petitioner contended for the first time on appeal that it was error not to obtain his own consent to the Magistrate Judge’s voir dire role. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the convictions, concluding, inter alia, that the right to have a district judge preside over voir dire could be waived by counsel.

Held: Express consent by counsel suffices to permit a magistrate judge to preside over jury selection in a felony trial, pursuant to the Federal Magistrates Act, 28 U. S. C. §636(b)(3), which states: "A magistrate judge may be assigned such additional duties as are not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States." Under Gomez

v. United States, 490 U. S. 858, 870, 875–876, and Peretz, supra, at 933, 935–936, such "additional duties" include presiding at voir dire if the parties consent, but not if there is an objection. Generally, where there is a full trial, there are various points at which rights ei-ther can be asserted or waived. This Court has indicated that some of these rights require the defendant’s own consent to waive. See, e.g., New York v. Hill, 528 U. S. 110, 114–115. The Court held in Hill, however, that an attorney, acting without indication of particular consent from his client, could waive his client’s statutory right to a speedy trial because "[s]cheduling matters are plainly among those for which agreement by counsel generally controls." Ibid. Similar to