28 U.S.C. § 139
Section 139 · Times for holding regular sessions
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case 637 F. Supp. 201 - Kramer v. Pittstown Point Landings, Ltd. (1986)
Most recently applied in 1000 Friends of Wisconsin Inc. v. United States Department of Transportation (June 2017)
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 times for commencing regular sessions of the district court for transacting judicial business at the places fixed by this chapter shall be determined by the rules or orders of the court. Such rules or orders may provide that at one or more of such places the court shall be in continuous session for such purposes on all business days throughout the year. At other places a session of the court shall continue for such purposes until terminated by order of final adjournment or by commencement of the next regular session at the same place.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
The purpose of this section is to remove all doubt as to whether the mere beginning of a new term at one place ends a prior term begun at another place. As revised, it conforms to a uniform course of judicial decisions. See U.S. v. Perlstein, 39 F.Supp. 965, 968 (D.C.N.J. 1941), and cases cited.
Amendments
1963—Pub. L. 88–139 substituted provisions requiring the times for commencing regular sessions of the district court to be determined by the rules or orders of the court, authorizing such rules or orders to provide that at one or more of the places fixed by this chapter, the court shall be in continuous session on all business days throughout the year, and that at other places, a session continues until terminated by order of final adjournment or by commencement of the next regular session at the same place, for provisions that a term continues until terminated by order of final adjournment or by commencement of the next term at the same place, in the text, and “Times for holding regular sessions” for “Term continued until terminated” in section catchline.
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
District courts always open, see rule 77, Appendix to this title.
Cross References
Virgin Islands district courts, times for holding sessions, see section 1615 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions.
Courts always open, see section 452 of this title.