5 U.S.C. § 7521
Section 7521 · Actions against administrative law judges
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 88 court decisions — leading case Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Bd. (2010)
Most recently applied in Trump v. Cook (U.S. 2026, slip opinion) (June 2026)
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.
(a) An action may be taken against an administrative law judge appointed under section 3105 of this title by the agency in which the administrative law judge is employed only for good cause established and determined by the Merit Systems Protection Board on the record after opportunity for hearing before the Board.
(b) The actions covered by this section are—
(1) a removal;
(2) a suspension;
(3) a reduction in grade;
(4) a reduction in pay; and
(5) a furlough of 30 days or less;
but do not include—
(A) a suspension or removal under section 7532 of this title;
(B) a reduction-in-force action under section 3502 of this title; or
(C) any action initiated under section 1215 of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior section 7521, Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 528; Pub. L. 95–251, §2(a)(1), Mar. 27, 1978, 92 Stat. 183, related to removal of an administrative law judge appointed under section 3105 of this title, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 95–454, §204(a).
Amendments
1989—Subsec. (b)(C). Pub. L. 101–12 substituted “1215” for “1206”.
Effective Date of 1989 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 101–12 effective 90 days following Apr. 10, 1989, see section 11 of Pub. L. 101–12, set out as a note under section 1201 of this title.
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.