38 U.S.C. § 512
Section 512 · Delegation of authority; assignment of functions and duties
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 36 court decisions — leading case Pence v. United States (1942)
Most recently applied in Nova v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs (December 2020)
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) Except as otherwise provided by law, the Secretary may assign functions and duties, and delegate, or authorize successive redelegation of, authority to act and to render decisions, with respect to all laws administered by the Department, to such officers and employees as the Secretary may find necessary. Within the limitations of such delegations, redelegations, or assignments, all official acts and decisions of such officers and employees shall have the same force and effect as though performed or rendered by the Secretary.
(b) There shall be included on the technical and administrative staff of the Secretary such staff officers, experts, inspectors, and assistants (including legal assistants) as the Secretary may prescribe.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
Prior section 512 was renumbered section 1512 of this title.
Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 212 of this title prior to repeal by Pub. L. 102–83, §2(a).