28 U.S.C. § 1654
Section 1654 · Appearance personally or by counsel
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 731 court decisions — leading case Rowland v. California Men's Colony, Unit II Men's Advisory Council (1993)
Most recently applied in United States v. John Walthall (March 2025)
Applied most in the Tenth Circuit Circuit (40 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 42 U.S.C. § 1983 · 28 U.S.C. § 1291 · 28 U.S.C. § 1915
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.
In all courts of the United States the parties may plead and conduct their own cases personally or by counsel as, by the rules of such courts, respectively, are permitted to manage and conduct causes therein.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical Revision Notes
1948 Act
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §394 (Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, §272, 36 Stat. 1164).
Words “as, by the rules of the said courts respectively, are permitted to manage and conduct causes therein,” after “counsel,” were omitted as surplusage. The revised section and section 2071 of this title effect no change in the procedure of the Tax Court before which certain accountants may be admitted as counsel for litigants under Rule 2 of the Tax Court.
Changes were made in phraseology.
1949 Act
This section restores in section 1654 of title 28, U.S.C., language of the original law.
Amendments
1949—Act May 24, 1949, inserted “as, by the rules of such courts, respectively, are permitted to manage and conduct causes therein”.