“A bill to amend title 28, United States Code, to transfer the United States Marshals Service to the judicial branch, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section transfers the United States Marshals Service from the Department of Justice to the judicial branch by redesignating chapter 37 of title 28, U.S. Code, as chapter 59 and moving it from part II to part III. (As background, the USMS executes federal arrests, provides court security and prisoner custody and transportation, operates the Witness Security Program, and manages asset forfeiture; this transfer shifts oversight from the Attorney General to the Chief Justice of the United States and a new supervisory Board.) The section further amends chapter 59 (as redesignated) as follows: (1) establishes the USMS as a bureau in the judicial branch headed by a Director appointed by the Chief Justice, in consultation with the Board (composed of the Chief Justice, the Judicial Conference of the United States, and the nonvoting Director ex officio), with the Director removable by the Board and U.S. marshals appointed by the Chief Justice, in consultation with the Board, to four-year terms; (2) requires the Chief Justice to fill marshal vacancies for the remainder of the four-year term; (3) strikes section 564 and redesignates sections 565 and 566; (4) in section 564 (as redesignated), replaces Attorney General approval of Service expenses with approval by the Chief Justice, in consultation with the Board; (5) in section 565 (as redesignated), authorizes personal protection for federal jurists, court officers, witnesses, and other threatened persons where intimidation impedes judicial or official proceedings, conditions witness security detail requests from the Attorney General on Director approval, and strikes a prior limitation on such details; (6) adds new section 566 authorizing assistance to the Department of Justice, at the Attorney General's request and with Director approval, in fugitive investigations (domestic and international), administrative subpoenas for unregistered sex offenders, and locating missing children for state, local, and other federal agencies; and (7) makes technical and conforming amendments to chapter tables of contents, cross-references, and the Homeland Security Act to reflect the USMS's new judicial branch status and protection authorities.