1 U.S.C. § 109
Section 109 · Repeal of statutes as affecting existing liabilities
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 434 court decisions — leading case Landgraf v. USI Film Products (1994)
Most recently applied in Hewitt v. United States (June 2025)
Applied most in the Ninth Circuit Circuit (42 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 21 U.S.C. § 841 · 18 U.S.C. § 3553 · 18 U.S.C. § 922
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The repeal of any statute shall not have the effect to release or extinguish any penalty, forfeiture, or liability incurred under such statute, unless the repealing Act shall so expressly provide, and such statute shall be treated as still remaining in force for the purpose of sustaining any proper action or prosecution for the enforcement of such penalty, forfeiture, or liability. The expiration of a temporary statute shall not have the effect to release or extinguish any penalty, forfeiture, or liability incurred under such statute, unless the temporary statute shall so expressly provide, and such statute shall be treated as still remaining in force for the purpose of sustaining any proper action or prosecution for the enforcement of such penalty, forfeiture, or liability.