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Special MasterIn law, a special master is an authority appointed by a judge to make sure that judicial orders are actually followed. Cases involving special masters often involve situations where it has been shown that governmental entities are violating civil rights. Cases where special masters have been utilized in recent years include some high-profile ones where states have been ordered to upgrade their prison facilites, which were held to be violative of the constitutional provision barring cruel and unusual punishment, and often state mental hospitals and similar institutions, which have been found to be so substandard as to be inherently violative of the rights of their inmates. The role of the special master (who is frequently, but not necessarily, an attorney) is to supervise those falling under the order of the court to make sure that the court order is being followed, and to report on the activities of the entity being supervised in a timely matter to the judge or the judge's designated representatives. Special masters have been controversial in some cases, and are often cited by conservatives in the U.S. as an example of judicial supremacy over the other branches of government. For example, at times they have ordred the expenditure of funds over and above the amount appropriated by a legislative body for the remediation of the situation being examined. To this point, their powers have generally be found to be valid and their remedies upheld by U.S. courts.
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