18 U.S.C. § 6002
Section 6002 · Immunity generally
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 680 court decisions — leading case Bank of Nova Scotia v. United States (1988)
Most recently applied in State v. Adams (April 2024)
Applied most in the Second Circuit Circuit (60 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 28 U.S.C. § 1826 · 18 U.S.C. § 6003 · 21 U.S.C. § 841
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.
Whenever a witness refuses, on the basis of his privilege against self-incrimination, to testify or provide other information in a proceeding before or ancillary to—
(1) a court or grand jury of the United States,
(2) an agency of the United States, or
(3) either House of Congress, a joint committee of the two Houses, or a committee or a subcommittee of either House,
and the person presiding over the proceeding communicates to the witness an order issued under this title, the witness may not refuse to comply with the order on the basis of his privilege against self-incrimination; but no testimony or other information compelled under the order (or any information directly or indirectly derived from such testimony or other information) may be used against the witness in any criminal case, except a prosecution for perjury, giving a false statement, or otherwise failing to comply with the order.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “under this title” for “under this part” in concluding provisions.