U.S. Marshals Service

The U.S. Marshals Service is the oldest federal law enforcement agency in the United States. Established on September 24, 1789, under provisions of the Judiciary Act that created the federal court system (Senate Bill 1), the service was created with a mandate to provide marshals and deputy marshals to support the federal courts within their judicial districts and to carry out all lawful orders issued by judges, Congress, or the president.

The first 13 U.S. marshals, one for each of the original states, were appointed by President George Washington. This set in motion a precedent that has continued for more than 200 years; U.S. marshals are political appointees of the president of the United States confirmed by the U.S. Senate, although deputy marshals, also once political appointees, have worked under some federal civil service protections since 1941. Although marshals may recruit deputies directly, the deputies retain job protection beyond the term of the individual marshal who selected them. Selection of deputy marshals is based on the results of a written exam; an oral interview; and physical, medical, and background examinations. Applicants must have prior law enforcement experience or a four-year college degree and must complete training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, in Glynco, Georgia, and an additional course specific to the service. They are subject to be assigned to any office and to be transferred based on the needs of the service.

Historically, U.S. marshals were empowered to hire as many deputies as needed, including deputizing citizens to assist in crime control. This power has been immortalized in books and films about the American West, where a posse (a group of deputized citizens) was created to search for criminals. Initially, U.S. marshals reported to the secretary of the Treasury, but in 1861 the attorney general was given supervisory powers over them, a change that was recognized legislatively on June 22, 1870, when the Department of Justice was created. As presidential appointees, marshals are appointed for four-year terms and can be removed only by the president. Because they are appointees, they have retained a high degree of independence, although attempts at centralization resulted in creation of the Marshals Service and the appointment of a director, who reports to the attorney general, and establishment of a headquarters operation in 1969. Additional centralization was achieved with creation of a Special Operations Group (SOG) in 1971 and a Fugitive Task Force in 1983. In 1997, Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC) was unable to convince his Senate colleagues to vote for legislation strengthening the power of the director despite similar legislation having passed in the House of Representatives. Even if the[Page 871] Senate were to pass the legislation, the change could not be effective until 2005, the year that a new presidential term would begin.

By 2002, there were 95 U.S. marshals. They supervised the activities of more than 4,200 deputies and other employees assigned to 94 district offices with more than 350 locations throughout the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each of the 94 districts, plus the District of Columbia, is headed by a marshal. Marshals enforce edicts for the federal district courts and the U.S. Supreme Court; transport defendants from federal corrections centers and other places of incarceration or detention; provide security to federal judges, prosecutors, and jurors; arrest defendants indicted by federal grand juries; manage the witness protection program, police insurrections or riots on federal land and reservations; and perform additional functions specified by federal statutes or requested by the attorney general.

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