28 U.S.C. § 2072
Section 2072 · Rules of procedure and evidence; power to prescribe
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 1,113 court decisions — leading case Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor (1997)
Most recently applied in Frias v. Hernandez (July 2025)
Applied most in the Third Circuit Circuit (67 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 28 U.S.C. § 1291 · 28 U.S.C. § 1332 · 28 U.S.C. § 1292
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.
(a) The Supreme Court shall have the power to prescribe general rules of practice and procedure and rules of evidence for cases in the United States district courts (including proceedings before magistrates thereof) and courts of appeals.
(b) Such rules shall not abridge, enlarge or modify any substantive right. All laws in conflict with such rules shall be of no further force or effect after such rules have taken effect.
(c) Such rules may define when a ruling of a district court is final for the purposes of appeal under section 1291 of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior section 2072, acts June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 961; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, §103, 63 Stat. 104; July 18, 1949, ch. 343, §2, 63 Stat. 446; May 10, 1950, ch. 174, §2, 64 Stat. 158; July 7, 1958, Pub. L. 85–508, §12(m), 72 Stat. 348; Nov. 6, 1966, Pub. L. 89–773, §1, 80 Stat. 1323, authorized the Supreme Court to prescribe rules of civil procedure, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 100–702, §§401(a), 407, effective Dec. 1, 1988.
Amendments
1990—Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 101–650 added subsec. (c).
Change of Name
Reference to United States magistrate or to magistrate deemed to refer to United States magistrate judge pursuant to section 321 of Pub. L. 101–650, set out as a note under section 631 of this title.
Effective Date
Section effective Dec. 1, 1988, see section 407 of Pub. L. 100–702, set out as an Effective Date of 1988 Amendment note under section 2071 of this title.
Applicability to Virgin Islands
Rules of civil procedure promulgated under this section as applicable to the District Court of the Virgin Islands, see section 1615 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions.
Admiralty Rules
The Rules of Practice in Admiralty and Maritime Cases, promulgated by the Supreme Court on Dec. 20, 1920, effective Mar. 7, 1921, as revised, amended, and supplemented, were rescinded, effective July 1, 1966, in accordance with the general unification of civil and admiralty procedure which became effective July 1, 1966. Provision for certain distinctly maritime remedies were preserved however, in the Supplemental Rules for Certain Admiralty and Maritime Claims, Rules A to F, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Appendix to this title.
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Application of rules of procedure, see rules 1, 2, 35, 38, 81, Appendix to this title.
Evidence, see rule 43.
One form of action, see rules 1 and 2.