28 U.S.C. § 543
Section 543 · Special attorneys
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 33 court decisions — leading case United States v. Troutman (1987)
Most recently applied in United States v. Concord Mgmt. & Consulting LLC (August 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.
(a) The Attorney General may appoint attorneys to assist United States attorneys when the public interest so requires, including the appointment of qualified tribal prosecutors and other qualified attorneys to assist in prosecuting Federal offenses committed in Indian country.
(b) Each attorney appointed under this section is subject to removal by the Attorney General.
(c) Indian Country.—In this section, the term “Indian country” has the meaning given that term in section 1151 of title 18.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Statutes at Large (a) 28 U.S.C. 503. [None]. 5 U.S.C. 298. July 28, 1916, ch. 261, §1 (6th par. on p. 413), 39 Stat. 413. (b) 28 U.S.C. 504(b) (2d sentence, less applicability to assistant United States attorneys). [None]. The text of former section 298 of title 5 is omitted as unnecessary. The position so authorized has not been filled in recent years, and the authority is preserved by this section and revised section 3101 of title 5, United States Code.
In subsection (b), the word “is” is substituted for “shall be”.
1948 Act
Prior section 503.—Based on section 312 of title 5, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Executive Departments and Government Officers and Employees (R.S. §363).
Other provisions of section 312 of title 5, U.S.C., 1940 ed., are incorporated in sections 507 [now 509 and 547] and 508 [now 548] of this title.
Changes were made in phraseology.
Prior Provisions
A prior section 543, act June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 911, related to oath of office for United States Marshals, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 89–554, §8(a), and reenactment in section 563 of this title by section 4(c) of Pub. L. 89–554.
Amendments
2010—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 111–211, §213(a)(1)(A), inserted “, including the appointment of qualified tribal prosecutors and other qualified attorneys to assist in prosecuting Federal offenses committed in Indian country” before period at end.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 111–211, §213(a)(1)(B), added subsec. (c).