5 U.S.C. § 2104
Section 2104 · Officer
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 22 court decisions — leading case Association of American Physicians & Surgeons, Inc. v. Clinton (1993)
Most recently applied in Nadine Pellegrino v. TSA (August 2019)
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) For the purpose of this title, “officer”, except as otherwise provided by this section or when specifically modified, means a justice or judge of the United States and an individual who is—
(1) required by law to be appointed in the civil service by one of the following acting in an official capacity—
(A) the President;
(B) a court of the United States;
(C) the head of an Executive agency; or
(D) the Secretary of a military department;
(2) engaged in the performance of a Federal function under authority of law or an Executive act; and
(3) subject to the supervision of an authority named by paragraph (1) of this section, or the Judicial Conference of the United States, while engaged in the performance of the duties of his office.
(b) Except as otherwise provided by law, an officer of the United States Postal Service or of the Postal Regulatory Commission is deemed not an officer for purposes of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
The section is supplied for convenience.
Amendments
2006—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 109–435 substituted “Postal Regulatory Commission” for “Postal Rate Commission”.
1970—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 91–375, §6(c)(3)(A), (B), designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and inserted in introductory text “as otherwise provided by this section or” after “except”.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 91–375, §6(c)(3)(C), added subsec. (b).
Effective Date of 1970 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 91–375 effective within 1 year after Aug. 12, 1970, on date established therefor by Board of Governors of United States Postal Service and published by it in Federal Register, see section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as an Effective Date note preceding section 101 of Title 39, Postal Service.