28 U.S.C. § 501
Section 501 · Executive department
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 27 court decisions — leading case United States v. Providence Journal Co. (1988)
Most recently applied in In re Grand Jury Investigation (July 2018)
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 Department of Justice is an executive department of the United States at the seat of Government.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
The words “There shall be”, referring to the establishment of the Department, are omitted as executed.
Prior Provisions
A prior section 501, acts June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 909; Mar. 18, 1959, Pub. L. 86–3, §11(a), 73 Stat. 9, related to appointment of United States attorneys, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 89–554, §8(a), and reenactment in section 541 of this title by section 4(c) of Pub. L. 89–554.
Specific Authorization of Appropriations Required for Department of Justice
Pub. L. 94–503, title II, §204, Oct. 15, 1976, 90 Stat. 2427, provided that: “No sums shall be deemed to be authorized to be appropriated for any fiscal year beginning on or after October 1, 1978, for the Department of Justice (including any bureau, agency, or other similar subdivision thereof) except as specifically authorized by Act of Congress with respect to such fiscal year. Neither the creation of a subdivision in the Department of Justice, nor the authorization of an activity of the Department, any subdivision, or officer thereof, shall be deemed in itself to be an authorization of appropriations for the Department of Justice, such subdivision, or activity, with respect to any fiscal year beginning on or after October 1, 1978.”