31 U.S.C. § 324
Section 324 · Disposing and extending the maturity of obligations
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Most recently applied in Lovoi v. Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (July 2005)
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 Secretary of the Treasury may—
(1) dispose of obligations—
(A) acquired by the Secretary for the United States Government; or
(B) delivered by an executive agency; and
(2) make arrangements to extend the maturity of those obligations.
(b) The Secretary may dispose or extend the maturity of obligations under subsection (a) of this section in the way, in amounts, at prices (for cash, obligations, property, or a combination of cash, obligations, or property), and on conditions the Secretary considers advisable and in the public interest.
(c) The authority under this section is in addition to authority under another law.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
In the section, the words “sell, exchange” are omitted as being included in “dispose”. The word “obligations” is substituted for “bonds, notes, or other securities” for consistency in the revised title. The words “under judicial process or otherwise” are omitted as unnecessary.
In subsection (a), before clause (1), the words “Notwithstanding the provisions of section 302 of title 40” are omitted as unnecessary and because section 302 was repealed by section 1(95) of the Act of October 31, 1951 (ch. 654, 65 Stat. 705). In clause (2), the words “those obligations” are substituted for “thereof” for clarity.
In subsection (b), the words “The Secretary may dispose or extend the maturity of obligations under subsection (a) of this section” are added for clarity and because of the restatement. The words “combination of cash, obligations, or property” are substituted for “or any combination thereof” for clarity. The words “terms and conditions” are omitted as being included in “on conditions”. The words “under the authority of this section” are omitted as unnecessary because of the restatement.
Subsection (c) is substituted for 31:741a(b) to eliminate unnecessary words and for consistency in the revised title.
Amendments
1984—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–369 struck out provision that the Secretary could not dispose of obligations of one issuer, held by the Secretary at one time, having on the date of disposal a total face or par value of more than $1,000,000 or, if no-par obligations, a stated or book value of more than $1,000,000.