28 U.S.C. § 601
Section 601 · Creation; Director and Deputy Director
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 21 court decisions — leading case Chandler v. Judicial Council of the Tenth Circuit (1970)
Most recently applied in Guffey v. Duff (August 2018)
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.
The Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall be maintained at the seat of government. It shall be supervised by a Director and a Deputy Director appointed and subject to removal by the Chief Justice of the United States, after consulting with the Judicial Conference. The Director and Deputy Director shall be deemed to be officers for purposes of title 5, United States Code.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 28, U.S.C. 1940 ed., §444 (Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, §302 as added Aug. 7, 1939, ch. 501, §1, 53 Stat. 1223).
This section contains part of section 444 of title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed. The remainder of said section 444 is incorporated in sections 603, 606 and 608 of this title.
Changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
1996—Pub. L. 104–317 inserted at end “The Director and Deputy Director shall be deemed to be officers for purposes of title 5, United States Code.”
1990—Pub. L. 101–650 substituted “Chief Justice of the United States, after consulting with the Judicial Conference” for “Supreme Court”.
1959—Pub. L. 86–370 substituted “Deputy Director” for “Assistant Director”.
Effective Date of 1959 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 86–370 effective Sept. 23, 1959, see section 7(a) of Pub. L. 86–370.
Reference to Assistant Director Deemed Reference to Deputy Director
Section 5(a)(4) of Pub. L. 86–370 provided that: “Whenever the Assistant Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts is referred to in any other law, such reference shall be deemed to be to the Deputy Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.”
Continuation of Law Existing on Sept. 1, 1948
Section 2(b) of act June 25, 1948, provided that: “The provisions of title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, of the United States Code, set out in section 1 of this Act, with respect to the organization of each of the several courts therein provided for and of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, shall be construed as continuations of existing law, and the tenure of the judges, officers, and employees thereof and of the United States attorneys and marshals and their deputies and assistants, in office on the effective date of this Act [Sept. 1, 1948], shall not be affected by its enactment, but each of them shall continue to serve in the same capacity under the appropriate provisions of title 28, as set out in section 1 of this Act, pursuant to his prior appointment: Provided, however, That each circuit court of appeals shall, as in said title 28 set out, hereafter be known as a United States court of appeals. No loss of rights, interruption of jurisdiction, or prejudice to matters pending in any of such courts on the effective date of this Act shall result from its enactment.”