
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 5USC3106]

 
             TITLE 5--GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEES
 
                           PART III--EMPLOYEES
 
                   Subpart B--Employment and Retention
 
                  CHAPTER 31--AUTHORITY FOR EMPLOYMENT
 
                  SUBCHAPTER I--EMPLOYMENT AUTHORITIES
 
Sec. 3106. Employment of attorneys; restrictions

    Except as otherwise authorized by law, the head of an Executive 
department or military department may not employ an attorney or counsel 
for the conduct of litigation in which the United States, an agency, or 
employee thereof is a party, or is interested, or for the securing of 
evidence therefor, but shall refer the matter to the Department of 
Justice. This section does not apply to the employment and payment of 
counsel under section 1037 of title 10.

(Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 415.)

                      Historical and Revision Notes
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                    Revised Statutes and
     Derivation                U.S. Code             Statutes at Large
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     5 U.S.C. 49.                  R.S. Sec.  189.
                                                   Sept. 2, 1958, Pub.
                                                    L. 85-861, Sec.
                                                    7(a), 72 Stat. 1555.
                     5 U.S.C. 314.                 R.S. Sec.  365.
                                                   Sept. 2, 1958, Pub.
                                                    L. 85-861, Sec.
                                                    7(b), 72 Stat. 1555.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Sections 189 and 365 of the Revised Statutes, as amended, are 
combined and the section is revised to express the effect of the law 
since department heads have long employed, with the approval of 
Congress, attorneys to advise them in the conduct of their official 
duties. The law which concentrates the authority for the conduct of 
litigation in the Department of Justice is codified in section 516 of 
title 28 by this bill.
    The words ``Executive department'' are substituted for 
``department'' as the definition of ``department'' applicable to R.S. 
Sec. 189 is coextensive with the definition of ``Executive department'' 
in section 101. The words ``or military department'' are inserted to 
preserve the application of the source law. Before enactment of the 
National Security Act Amendments of 1949 (63 Stat. 578), the Department 
of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air 
Force were Executive departments. The National Security Act Amendments 
of 1949 established the Department of Defense as an Executive Department 
including the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and 
the Department of the Air Force as military departments, not as 
Executive departments. However, the source law for this section, which 
was in effect in 1949, remained applicable to the Secretaries of the 
military departments by virtue of section 12(g) of the National Security 
Act Amendments of 1949 (63 Stat. 591), which is set out in the reviser's 
note for section 301.
    R.S. Sec. 189 was part of title IV of the Revised Statutes. The Act 
of July 26, 1947, ch. 343, Sec. 201(d), as added Aug. 1, 1949, ch. 412, 
Sec. 4, 63 Stat. 579 (former 5 U.S.C. 171-1), which provides ``Except to 
the extent inconsistent with the provisions of this Act [National 
Security Act of 1947], the provisions of title IV of the Revised 
Statutes as now or hereafter amended shall be applicable to the 
Department of Defense'' is omitted from this title but is not repealed.
    Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable 
and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in title 22 section 2698.
