28 U.S.C. § 536
Section 536 · Positions in excepted service
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 18 court decisions — leading case Egger v. Phillips (1983)
Most recently applied in King v. United States (February 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.
All positions in the Federal Bureau of Investigation are excepted from the competitive service, and the incumbents of such positions occupy positions in the excepted service.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
The section is revised and restated to eliminate ambiguity and give true effect to the prohibition against the use of appropriations to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The language used to define the excepted status of the positions, officers, and employees is based on revised sections 2102 and 2103 of title 5, United States Code.
The provisions of this section were made permanent by the Act of July 28, 1950, 64 Stat. 380. Identical provisions appearing in former section 300d of title 5 are derived from the Department of Justice Appropriation Act, 1965, and earlier appropriation Acts for the Department of Justice running back to 1942, which Acts are identified in a note under former section 300d of title 5, U.S.C. 1964 ed.