28 U.S.C. § 515
Section 515 · Authority for legal proceedings; commission, oath, and salary for special attorneys
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 135 court decisions — leading case United States v. Sells Engineering, Inc. (1983)
Most recently applied in United States v. Maxwell (September 2024)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 28 U.S.C. § 594 · 28 U.S.C. § 510 · 18 U.S.C. § 371
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 Attorney General or any other officer of the Department of Justice, or any attorney specially appointed by the Attorney General under law, may, when specifically directed by the Attorney General, conduct any kind of legal proceeding, civil or criminal, including grand jury proceedings and proceedings before committing magistrate judges, which United States attorneys are authorized by law to conduct, whether or not he is a resident of the district in which the proceeding is brought.
(b) Each attorney specially retained under authority of the Department of Justice shall be commissioned as special assistant to the Attorney General or special attorney, and shall take the oath required by law. Foreign counsel employed in special cases are not required to take the oath. The Attorney General shall fix the annual salary of a special assistant or special attorney.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Statutes at Large (a) 5 U.S.C. 310. June 30, 1906, ch. 3935, 34 Stat. 816. (b) 5 U.S.C. 315. R.S. §366. Apr. 17, 1930, ch. 174, 46 Stat. 170. June 25, 1948, ch. 646, §3, 62 Stat. 985. [Uncodified]. Aug. 5, 1953, ch. 328, §202 (1st and 2d provisos, as applicable to special assistants and special attorneys), 67 Stat. 375. [Uncodified]. July 2, 1954, ch. 456, §202 (as applicable to special assistants and special attorneys), 68 Stat. 421. In subsection (a), the words “or counselor” are omitted as redundant. The words “United States attorneys” are substituted for “district attorneys” on authority of the Act of June 25, 1948, ch. 646, §1, 62 Stat. 909. The words “any provision of” are omitted as unnecessary.
Amendments
2002—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 107–273 struck out “at not more than $12,000” before period at end.
Change of Name
Words “magistrate judges” substituted for “magistrates” in subsec. (a) pursuant to section 321 of Pub. L. 101–650, set out as a note under section 631 of this title.