Hubbard v. United States, 514 U.S. 695, 5 (1995)

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Cite as: 514 U. S. 695 (1995)

Opinion of the Court

under § 1001; false statements made while a court is performing its adjudicative functions are not covered.

The Court of Appeals affirmed petitioner's convictions under § 1001. Although the judicial function exception has become entrenched over the years in a number of Circuits, the Sixth Circuit concluded, over a dissent, that the exception does not exist. 16 F. 3d 694 (1994). That conclusion created a split in the Circuits, prompting us to grant certiorari.2 513 U. S. 959 (1994). We now reverse.

II

Section 1001 criminalizes false statements and similar misconduct occurring "in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States." In ordinary parlance, federal courts are not described as "departments" or "agencies" of the Government. As noted by the Sixth Circuit, it would be strange indeed to refer to a court as an "agency." See 16 F. 3d, at 698, n. 4 ("[T]he U. S. Court of Appeals [is not] the Appellate Adjudication Agency"). And while we have occasionally spoken of the three branches of our Government, including the Judiciary, as "department[s]," e. g., Mississippi v. Johnson, 4 Wall. 475, 500 (1867), that locution is not an ordinary one. Far more common is the use of "department" to refer to a component of the Executive Branch.

2 The judicial function exception has been recognized in the following cases: United States v. Masterpol, 940 F. 2d 760, 764-766 (CA2 1991); United States v. Holmes, 840 F. 2d 246, 248 (CA4), cert. denied, 488 U. S. 831 (1988); United States v. Abrahams, 604 F. 2d 386, 393 (CA5 1979); United States v. Mayer, 775 F. 2d 1387, 1390 (CA9 1985) (per curiam); United States v. Wood, 6 F. 3d 692, 694-695 (CA10 1993). Although the Seventh and District of Columbia Circuits have questioned the basis of the exception, see United States v. Barber, 881 F. 2d 345, 350 (CA7 1989), cert. denied, 495 U. S. 922 (1990); United States v. Poindexter, 951 F. 2d 369, 387 (CADC 1991), cert. denied, 506 U. S. 1021 (1992), the Sixth Circuit stands alone in unambiguously rejecting it.

699

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