18 U.S.C. § 1965
Section 1965 · Venue and process
This is § 901 of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Amended 1 time on record
The circuits are split over this section — Whether the "ends of justice" standard governing RICO's nationwide service-of-process provision (18 U.S.C. § 1965(b)) is satisfied so as to establish personal jurisdiction over out-of-district defendants
Applied in 362 court decisions — leading case Rodriguez De Quijas v. Shearson/American Express, Inc. (1989)
Most recently applied in Medical Marijuana, Inc. v. Horn (April 2025)
Applied most in the District Circuit Circuit (25 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 18 U.S.C. § 1961 · 18 U.S.C. § 1962 · 28 U.S.C. § 1391
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.
(a) Any civil action or proceeding under this chapter against any person may be instituted in the district court of the United States for any district in which such person resides, is found, has an agent, or transacts his affairs.
(b) In any action under section 1964 of this chapter in any district court of the United States in which it is shown that the ends of justice require that other parties residing in any other district be brought before the court, the court may cause such parties to be summoned, and process for that purpose may be served in any judicial district of the United States by the marshal thereof.
(c) In any civil or criminal action or proceeding instituted by the United States under this chapter in the district court of the United States for any judicial district, subpenas issued by such court to compel the attendance of witnesses may be served in any other judicial district, except that in any civil action or proceeding no such subpena shall be issued for service upon any individual who resides in another district at a place more than one hundred miles from the place at which such court is held without approval given by a judge of such court upon a showing of good cause.
(d) All other process in any action or proceeding under this chapter may be served on any person in any judicial district in which such person resides, is found, has an agent, or transacts his affairs.