§ 42. — Allotment of Supreme Court justices to circuits.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 28USC42]
TITLE 28--JUDICIARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE
PART I--ORGANIZATION OF COURTS
CHAPTER 3--COURTS OF APPEALS
Sec. 42. Allotment of Supreme Court justices to circuits
The Chief Justice of the United States and the associate justices of
the Supreme Court shall from time to time be allotted as circuit
justices among the circuits by order of the Supreme Court. The Chief
Justice may make such allotments in vacation.
A justice may be assigned to more than one circuit, and two or more
justices may be assigned to the same circuit.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 870.)
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Sec. 215 (Mar. 3, 1911, ch.
231, Sec. 119, 36 Stat. 1131; Dec. 23, 1944, ch. 724, 58 Stat. 925).
The authority of the Chief Justice in vacation to assign a circuit
justice to more than one circuit was extended by omitting the phrase
``whenever by reason of death or resignation, no Justice is allotted to
a circuit.''
The provision in section 215 of Title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., that,
for the purposes of said section, the ``District of Columbia shall be
deemed to be a judicial circuit,'' was omitted, since the District of
Columbia is made a judicial circuit by section 41 of this title.
The last paragraph was added to make clear the intent of Congress
that the powers of the Court to assign the justices among the several
circuits should be completely flexible.
Changes were made in phraseology.
