18 U.S.C. § 1508
Section 1508 · Recording, listening to, or observing proceedings of grand or petit juries while deliberating or voting
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 33 court decisions — leading case Singleton v. City of New York (1980)
Most recently applied in Pitta v. Medeiros (January 2024)
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 knowingly and willfully, by any means or device whatsoever—
(a) records, or attempts to record, the proceedings of any grand or petit jury in any court of the United States while such jury is deliberating or voting; or
(b) listens to or observes, or attempts to listen to or observe, the proceedings of any grand or petit jury of which he is not a member in any court of the United States while such jury is deliberating or voting—
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
Nothing in paragraph (a) of this section shall be construed to prohibit the taking of notes by a grand or petit juror in any court of the United States in connection with and solely for the purpose of assisting him in the performance of his duties as such juror.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000” in par. following par. (b).
Cross References
Minor offenses tried by United States magistrate judges as excluding offenses punishable under this section, see section 3401 of this title.