5 U.S.C. § 7211
Section 7211 · Employees right to petition Congress
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 16 court decisions — leading case Harlow v. Fitzgerald (1982)
Most recently applied in 69 F. Supp. 3d 1 - Hardy v. Hamburg (September 2014)
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 right of employees, individually or collectively, to petition Congress or a Member of Congress, or to furnish information to either House of Congress, or to a committee or Member thereof, may not be interfered with or denied.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
Provisions of this section were contained in section 7102 of this title prior to the general amendment of chapter 71 of this title by Pub. L. 95–454, title VII, §701, Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1191.
Effective Date
Section effective 90 days after Oct. 13, 1978, see section 907 of Pub. L. 95–454, set out as an Effective Date of 1978 Amendment note under section 1101 of this title.