department
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 501 U.S. 868 - Freytag v. Commissioner · 1991Most cited · 2,238 citing opinions
Cabinet-level entities
How the Supreme Court has restated “department”
Each Supreme Court definition of “department,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “department”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “department” — 3,435 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 5 definitions, chronological · 1955–1995
- ORIGINAL
one of the executive departments enumerated in section 1 of Title 5, unless the context shows that such term was intended to describe the executive, legislative, or judicial branches of the government.
The development, scope and purpose of the section shows that 'department,' as used in this context, was meant to describe the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the Government.
18 U.S.C. § 1001
Cabinet-level entities," ante, at 887.
one of the executive departments enumerated in section 1 [now § 101] of Title 5, unless the context shows that such term was intended to describe the executive, legislative, or judicial branches of the government.