18 U.S.C. § 1462
Section 1462 · Importation or transportation of obscene matters
Amended 6 times on record
Applied in 236 court decisions — leading case United States v. Williams (2008)
Most recently applied in United States v. Bernhard Jakits (February 2025)
Applied most in the Ninth Circuit Circuit (29 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 1461 · 19 U.S.C. § 1305 · 18 U.S.C. § 1465
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Whoever brings into the United States, or any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof, or knowingly uses any express company or other common carrier or interactive computer service (as defined in section 230(e)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934), for carriage in interstate or foreign commerce—
(a) any obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy book, pamphlet, picture, motion-picture film, paper, letter, writing, print, or other matter of indecent character; or
(b) any obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy phonograph recording, electrical transcription, or other article or thing capable of producing sound; or
(c) any drug, medicine, article, or thing designed, adapted, or intended for producing abortion, or for any indecent or immoral use; or any written or printed card, letter, circular, book, pamphlet, advertisement, or notice of any kind giving information, directly or indirectly, where, how, or of whom, or by what means any of such mentioned articles, matters, or things may be obtained or made; or
Whoever knowingly takes or receives, from such express company or other common carrier or interactive computer service (as defined in section 230(e)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934) any matter or thing the carriage or importation of which is herein made unlawful—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both, for the first such offense and shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both, for each such offense thereafter.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §396 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §245, 35 Stat. 1138; June 5, 1920, ch. 268, 41 Stat. 1060).
Reference to persons causing or procuring was omitted as unnecessary in view of definition of “principal” in section 2 of this title.
Words “in interstate or foreign commerce” were substituted for ten lines of text without loss of meaning. (See definitive section 10 of this title.)
(See reviser's note under section 1461 of this title.)
Minor changes in phraseology were made.
References in Text
Section 230(e)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934, referred to in text, is classified to section 230(e)(2) of Title 47, Telegraphs, Telephones, and Radiotelegraphs.
Amendments
1996—Pub. L. 104–104, §507(a)(1), inserted “or interactive computer service (as defined in section 230(e)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934)” after “carrier” in first par.
Pub. L. 104–104, §507(a)(2), in second par., inserted “or receives,” after “takes”, “or interactive computer service (as defined in section 230(e)(2) of the Communications Act of 1934)” after “common carrier”, and “or importation” after “carriage”.
1994—Pub. L. 103–322, in last par., substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000” after “Shall be” and for “fined not more than $10,000” after “and shall be”.
1971—Pub. L. 91–662 struck out “preventing conception, or” before “producing abortion”.
1958—Pub. L. 85–796 substituted “uses” for “deposits with” in opening par., “carriage of which” for “depositing of which for carriage” in penultimate par., and inserted penalty provisions for subsequent offenses in last par.
1950—Act May 27, 1950, brought within scope of section the importation or transportation of any obscene, lewd, lascivious, or filthy phonograph recording, electrical transcription, or other article or think capable of producing sound.
Effective Date of 1971 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 91–662 effective Jan. 9, 1971, see section 7 of Pub. L. 91–662, set out as a note under section 552 of this title.
Construction of 1996 Amendment
Section 507(c) of Pub. L. 104–104 provided that: “The amendments made by this section [amending this section and section 1465 of this title] are clarifying and shall not be interpreted to limit or repeal any prohibition contained in sections 1462 and 1465 of title 18, United States Code, before such amendment, under the rule established in United States v. Alpers, 338 U.S. 680 (1950).”
Cross References
Importation of immoral articles prohibited, see section 1305 of Title 19, Customs Duties.