18 U.S.C. § 600
Section 600 · Promise of employment or other benefit for political activity
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case McConnell v. Federal Election Commission (2003)
Most recently applied in Snyder v. United States (June 2024)
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.
Whoever, directly or indirectly, promises any employment, position, compensation, contract, appointment, or other benefit, provided for or made possible in whole or in part by any Act of Congress, or any special consideration in obtaining any such benefit, to any person as consideration, favor, or reward for any political activity or for the support of or opposition to any candidate or any political party in connection with any general or special election to any political office, or in connection with any primary election or political convention or caucus held to select candidates for any political office, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§61b, 61g (Aug. 2, 1939, 11:50 a.m., E.S.T., ch. 410, §§3, 8, 53 Stat. 1147, 1148).
This section consolidates sections 61b and 61g of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $10,000”.
1976—Pub. L. 94–453 substituted $10,000 for $1,000 maximum allowable fine.
1972—Pub. L. 92–225 struck out “work,” after “position,”, inserted “contract, appointment,” after “compensation,” and “or any special consideration in obtaining any such benefit,” after “Act of Congress,”, and substituted “in connection with any general or special election to any political office, or in connection with any primary election or political convention or caucus held to select candidates for any political office” for “in any election”.
Effective Date of 1972 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 92–225 effective Dec. 31, 1971, or sixty days after date of enactment [Feb. 7, 1972], whichever is later, see section 408 of Pub. L. 92–225, set out as an Effective Date note under section 431 of Title 2, The Congress.
Canal Zone
Applicability of section to Canal Zone, see section 14 of this title.
Cross References
Minor offenses tried by United States magistrate judges as excluding offenses punishable under this section, see section 3401 of this title.