§3331 Summoning and Term

Summary

In districts with more than four million people, or when the Attorney General or another top Justice Department official writes that a special grand jury is needed, a court must summon one at least once every eighteen months unless one is already serving. The jury serves eighteen months, can be ended early by a majority, and the court may extend the term six months at a time up to thirty-six months (except as provided in subsection (e) of section 3333). If a court discharges the jury or won’t extend it, a majority of the jury can ask the circuit’s chief judge to keep it going until that chief judge decides.