28 U.S.C. § 3
Section 3 · Vacancy in office of Chief Justice; disability
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 102 court decisions — leading case United States v. Diebold, Inc. (1962)
Most recently applied in CPR Management SA v. Devon Park Bioventures LP (November 2021)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 28 U.S.C. § 2 · 28 U.S.C. § 1332 · 28 U.S.C. § 1346
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.
Whenever the Chief Justice is unable to perform the duties of his office or the office is vacant, his powers and duties shall devolve upon the associate justice next in precedence who is able to act, until such disability is removed or another Chief Justice is appointed and duly qualified.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §323 (Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, §217, 36 Stat. 1152).
The sentence, “This provision shall apply to every Associate Justice who succeeds to the office of Chief Justice”, was omitted as covered by last portion of revised section.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
For seniority of commissions, see section 4 of this title.