28 U.S.C. § 138
Section 138 · Terms abolished
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 20 court decisions — leading case Liteky et al United States (1994)
Most recently applied in 956 F. Supp. 2d 230 - Kingman Park Civic Association v. Gray (July 2013)
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 district court shall not hold formal terms.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
This section was substituted for a number of special provisions fixing stated times for holding terms of court in the several districts, in order to vest in the courts wider discretion and promote greater efficiency in the administration of the business of such courts.
Amendments
1963—Pub. L. 88–139 substituted “The district court shall not hold formal terms” for “The times for holding regular terms of court at the places fixed by this chapter shall be determined by rule of the district court” in text, and “Terms abolished” for “Times for holding regular terms” in section catchline.