39 U.S.C. § 201
Section 201 · United States Postal Service
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 144 court decisions — leading case Old Dominion Branch No. 496 v. Austin (1974)
Most recently applied in National Association of Postal Supervisors v. USPS (February 2022)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 39 U.S.C. § 401 · 39 U.S.C. § 410 · 39 U.S.C. § 101
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.
There is established, as an independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States, the United States Postal Service.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Effective Date
Section effective July 1, 1971, pursuant to Resolution No. 71–9 of the Board of Governors. See section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as a note preceding section 101 of this title.
Transfer of Functions; Abolition of Office
Section 4(a) of Pub. L. 91–375 provided that: “There are hereby transferred to the United States Postal Service all the functions, powers, and duties of the Post Office Department and the Postmaster General of the Post Office Department, and the Post Office Department and the office of Postmaster General of the Post Office Department are abolished.”
Provisions of section 4(a) of Pub. L. 91–375 effective within 1 year after Aug. 12, 1970, on date established therefor by the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service and published by it in the Federal Register, see section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as an Effective Date note preceding section 101 of this title.
Transitional Expenses
Expenses of United States Postal Service from Aug. 12, 1970, until date of commencement of operations of Postal Service deemed administrative expenses of Post Office Department, see section 12 of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as a note under section 2004 of this title.