2 U.S.C. § 455
Section 455 · Period of limitations
This is § 406 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case United States v. Curran (1994)
Most recently applied in Richard Maximus Strahan v. Sean O’Reilly, et al. (August 2022)
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) No person shall be prosecuted, tried, or punished for any violation of subchapter I of this chapter, unless the indictment is found or the information is instituted within 5 years after the date of the violation.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law—
(1) the period of limitations referred to in subsection (a) of this section shall apply with respect to violations referred to in such subsection committed before, on, or after the effective date of this section; and
(2) no criminal proceeding shall be instituted against any person for any act or omission which was a violation of any provision of subchapter I of this chapter, as in effect on December 31, 1974, if such act or omission does not constitute a violation of any such provision, as amended by the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974.
Nothing in this subsection shall affect any proceeding pending in any court of the United States on January 1, 1975.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974, referred to in subsec. (b)(2), is Pub. L. 93–433, Oct. 15, 1974, 88 Stat. 1263, as amended. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title of 1974 Amendment note set out under section 431 of this title and Tables.
Amendments
2002—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 107–155 substituted “5 years” for “3 years”.
1976—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 94–283, §115(f)(1), struck out references to sections 608, 610, 611, 613, 614, 615, 616, and 617 of title 18.
Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 94–283, §115(f)(2), struck out references to sections 608, 610, 611, and 613 of title 18.
Effective Date of 2002 Amendment
Pub. L. 107–155, title III, §313(b), Mar. 27, 2002, 116 Stat. 106, provided that: “The amendment made by this section [amending this section] shall apply to violations occurring on or after the effective date of this Act [for general effective date of Pub. L. 107–155, see section 402 of Pub. L. 107–155, set out as an Effective Date of 2002 Amendment; Regulations note under section 431 of this title].”
Effective Date
Section effective Jan. 1, 1975, see section 410(a) of Pub. L. 93–443, set out as an Effective Date of 1974 Amendment note under section 431 of this title.