Opinion ID: 437633
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Status of the Marshals

Text: 28 Generally speaking, the United States Marshals serve as the executive arm of the federal judiciary and, since the Judiciary Act of 1789, have been obligated to execute all lawful precepts directed to them under the authority of the United States. As the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits have observed, The raison d'etre of the Marshal Service is to service the federal forum in civil as well as criminal litigation. Ford v. Allen, 728 F.2d 1369, 1370 (11th Cir.1984) (per curiam); Ballard v. Spradley, 557 F.2d 476, 481 (5th Cir.1977). And from what I have observed during my years on the district bench, the Marshals Service performs numerous tasks for members of the judiciary. Finally, this court has declared that [i]n discharging his duties as a Marshal he acts concurrently as an officer of the federal judiciary and as an executive officer. United States v. Krapf, 285 F.2d 647, 649 (3d Cir.1961). 29 I conclude, however, that these factors do not take the Marshals Service out of the executive branch of our government. The President appoints the United States Marshal for each judicial district, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 561(a); and the Attorney General supervises and directs the United States marshals in their performance of public duties, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 569(c) (1976). Thus, while there is plainly a special relationship between the Marshals Service and the federal judiciary, the marshals formally remain part of the executive branch of our government. While I would feel considerably more comfortable with this result, were I able to discern the reasoning of McIntire and McClung in their apparent restrictions on federal mandamus power and thus to consider whether those reasons justified a limit on mandamus against federal marshals, on balance I agree with Judge Gibbons' conclusion that federal marshals are the beneficiaries of whatever limits there may be under 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1651 on the issuance of writs of mandamus against federal executive officials.