42 U.S.C. § 5148
Section 5148 · Nonliability of Federal Government
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 38 court decisions — leading case Freeman v. United States (2009)
Most recently applied in Barbosa v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec. (March 2019)
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 Federal Government shall not be liable for any claim based upon the exercise or performance of or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of a Federal agency or an employee of the Federal Government in carrying out the provisions of this chapter.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior section 305 of Pub. L. 93–288 was classified to section 5145 of this title prior to repeal by Pub. L. 100–707.