28 U.S.C. § 526
Section 526 · Authority of Attorney General to investigate United States attorneys, marshals, trustees, clerks of court, and others
Amended 5 times on record
Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case Chabal v. Reagan (1988)
Most recently applied in Williams v. United States Department of Justice (May 2010)
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 may investigate the official acts, records, and accounts of—
(1) the United States attorneys, marshals, trustees, including trustees in cases under title 11; and
(2) at the request and on behalf of the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the clerks of the United States courts and of the district court of the Virgin Islands, probation officers, United States magistrate judges, and court reporters;
for which purpose all the official papers, records, dockets, and accounts of these officers, without exception, may be examined by agents of the Attorney General at any time.
(b) Appropriations for the examination of judicial officers are available for carrying out this section.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Statutes at Large 5 U.S.C. 341b. July 28, 1950, ch. 503, §4, 64 Stat. 380. July 7, 1958, Pub. L. 85–508, §12(q), 72 Stat. 349. In subsection (b), the words “now or hereafter” and “the provisions of” are omitted as unnecessary.
Codification
Pub. L. 95–598, title IV, §408(c), Nov. 6, 1978, 92 Stat. 2687, as amended by Pub. L. 98–166, title II, §200, Nov. 28, 1983, 97 Stat. 1081; Pub. L. 98–353, title III, §323, July 10, 1984, 98 Stat. 358; Pub. L. 99–429, Sept. 30, 1986, 100 Stat. 985; Pub. L. 99–500, §101(b) [title II, §200], Oct. 18, 1986, 100 Stat. 1783–39, 1783–45, and Pub. L. 99–591, §101(b) [title II, §200], Oct. 30, 1986, 100 Stat. 3341–39, 3341–45; Pub. L. 99–554, title III, §307(a), Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3125, provided for the deletion of any references to United States Trustees in this title at a prospective date, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 99–554, title III, §307(b), Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3125.
Amendments
2002—Pub. L. 107–273, §4003(b)(2)(A), struck out “and” before “trustees” in section catchline.
Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 107–273, §4003(b)(2)(B), substituted “marshals,” for “marshals,,”.
1986—Pub. L. 99–554, §144(c)(1), substituted “trustees” for “trustee” in section catchline.
Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 99–554, §144(c)(2)(A), inserted reference to trustees in cases under title 11.
Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 99–554, §144(c)(2)(B), struck out references to courts of the Canal Zone and trustees in cases under title 11.
1978—Pub. L. 95–598, §219(b), substituted “marshals, and trustee” for “and marshals” in section catchline.
Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 95–518, §219(a), substituted “marshals, and trustees” for “and marshals”.
Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 95–598, §220, substituted “officers, trustees in cases under title 11” for “officers, referees, trustees and receivers in bankruptcy” and “magistrates” for “commissioners”.
Change of Name
“United States magistrate judges” substituted for “United States magistrates” in subsec. (a)(2) pursuant to section 321 of Pub. L. 101–650, set out as a note under section 631 of this title.
Effective Date of 1986 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 99–554 effective 30 days after Oct. 27, 1986, see section 302(a) of Pub. L. 99–554, set out as a note under section 581 of this title.
Effective Date of 1978 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 95–598 effective Oct. 1, 1979, see section 402(c) of Pub. L. 95–598, set out as an Effective Date note preceding section 101 of Title 11, Bankruptcy.