44 U.S.C. § 3105
Section 3105 · Safeguards
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case Armstrong v. Bush (1991)
Most recently applied in In re: Hillary Clinton (REVISED) (August 2020)
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 head of each Federal agency shall establish safeguards against the removal or loss of records the head of such agency determines to be necessary and required by regulations of the Archivist. Safeguards shall include making it known to officials and employees of the agency—
that records in the custody of the agency are not to be alienated or destroyed except in accordance with sections 3301–3314 of this title, and
the penalties provided by law for the unlawful removal or destruction of records.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
Sections 3304 to 3307 of this title, included in the reference in par. (1) to sections 3301 to 3314 of this title, were repealed by Pub. L. 91–287, § 2(c), June 23, 1970, 84 Stat. 321.
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on 44 U.S. Code, 1964 ed., § 396(e) (June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title V, § 506(e), as added Sept. 5, 1950, ch. 849, § 6(d), 64 Stat. 583).
Amendments
2014—Pub. L. 113–187 substituted “the head of such agency” for “he” in introductory provisions.
1984—Pub. L. 98–497 substituted “Archivist” for “Administrator of General Services”.
Effective Date of 1984 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 98–497 effective Apr. 1, 1985, see section 301 of Pub. L. 98–497, set out as a note under section 2102 of this title.