44 U.S.C. § 3301
Section 3301 · Definition of records
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 63 court decisions — leading case Kissinger v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (1980)
Most recently applied in Cox v. Dep't of Justice (August 2024)
Applied most in the District Circuit Circuit (34 decisions)
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.
As used in this chapter, the term “records”—
includes all recorded information, regardless of form or characteristics, made or received by a Federal agency under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the United States Government or because of the informational value of data in them; and
does not include—
library and museum material made or acquired and preserved solely for reference or exhibition purposes; or
duplicate copies of records preserved only for convenience.
For purposes of paragraph (1), the term “recorded information” includes all traditional forms of records, regardless of physical form or characteristics, including information created, manipulated, communicated, or stored in digital or electronic form.
The Archivist’s determination whether recorded information, regardless of whether it exists in physical, digital, or electronic form, is a record as defined in subsection (a) shall be binding on all Federal agencies.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., § 366 (July 7, 1943, ch. 192, § 1, 57 Stat. 380).
Amendments
2014—Pub. L. 113–187 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “As used in this chapter, ‘records’ includes all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the United States Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government or because of the informational value of data in them. Library and museum material made or acquired and preserved solely for reference or exhibition purposes, extra copies of documents preserved only for convenience of reference, and stocks of publications and of processed documents are not included.”
1976—Pub. L. 94–575 expanded “records” to include “machine readable materials”.