40 U.S.C. § 3113
Section 3113 · Acquisition by condemnation
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 314 court decisions — leading case Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee v. McGrath (1951)
Most recently applied in McKenzie County, ND v. United States (March 2025)
Applied most in the Ninth Circuit Circuit (45 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 40 U.S.C. § 3114 · 50 U.S.C. § 171 · 33 U.S.C. § 591
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.
An officer of the Federal Government authorized to acquire real estate for the erection of a public building or for other public uses may acquire the real estate for the Government by condemnation, under judicial process, when the officer believes that it is necessary or advantageous to the Government to do so. The Attorney General, on application of the officer, shall have condemnation proceedings begun within 30 days from receipt of the application at the Department of Justice.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 3113 40:257. Aug. 1, 1888, ch. 728, §1, 25 Stat. 357; June 25, 1948, ch. 646, §6, 62 Stat. 986. The words “the Secretary of the Treasury or any other” are omitted as unnecessary. The reference to section 258 is omitted because 40:258 is superseded by rule 71A of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (28 App.: U.S.C.).