10 U.S.C. § 630
Section 630 · Discharge of commissioned officers with less then six years of active commissioned service or found not qualified for promotion for first lieutenant or lieutenant (junior grade)
Amended 5 times on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Holley v. United States (1997)
Most recently applied in Ostler v. United States (July 2002)
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 Secretary of the military department concerned, under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Defense—
(1) may discharge any officer on the active-duty list who—
(A) has less than six years of active commissioned service; or
(B) is serving in the grade of second lieutenant or ensign and has been found not qualified for promotion to the grade of first lieutenant or lieutenant (junior grade); and
(2) shall, unless the officer has been promoted, discharge any officer described in paragraph (1)(B) at the end of the 18-month period beginning on the date on which the officer is first found not qualified for promotion.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2008—Pub. L. 110–181, §503(a)(2), substituted “six years” for “five years” in section catchline.
Par. (1)(A). Pub. L. 110–181, §503(a)(1), substituted “six years” for “five years”.
2003—Par. (2). Pub. L. 108–136 substituted “paragraph” for “clause”.
2001—Pub. L. 107–107, §505(d)(4)(A), struck out “regular” before “commissioned officers” in section catchline.
Par. (1). Pub. L. 107–107, §505(d)(2), struck out “regular” before “officer” in introductory provisions and before “grade of first lieutenant” in subpar. (B).
1984—Par. (2). Pub. L. 98–525 substituted “18-month” for “eighteen-month”.