18 U.S.C. § 6005
Section 6005 · Congressional proceedings
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case United States v. North (1990)
Most recently applied in United States v. Allen (July 2017)
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) In the case of any individual who has been or may be called to testify or provide other information at any proceeding before or ancillary to either House of Congress, or any committee, or any subcommittee of either House, or any joint committee of the two Houses, a United States district court shall issue, in accordance with subsection (b) of this section, upon the request of a duly authorized representative of the House of Congress or the committee concerned, an order requiring such individual to give testimony or provide other information which he refuses to give or provide on the basis of his privilege against self-incrimination, such order to become effective as provided in section 6002 of this title.
(b) Before issuing an order under subsection (a) of this section, a United States district court shall find that—
(1) in the case of a proceeding before or ancillary to either House of Congress, the request for such an order has been approved by an affirmative vote of a majority of the Members present of that House;
(2) in the case of a proceeding before or ancillary to a committee or a subcommittee of either House of Congress or a joint committee of both Houses, the request for such an order has been approved by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of the full committee; and
(3) ten days or more prior to the day on which the request for such an order was made, the Attorney General was served with notice of an intention to request the order.
(c) Upon application of the Attorney General, the United States district court shall defer the issuance of any order under subsection (a) of this section for such period, not longer than twenty days from the date of the request for such order, as the Attorney General may specify.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1996—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104–292, §5(1), inserted “or ancillary to” after “any proceeding before”.
Subsec. (b)(1), (2). Pub. L. 104–292, §5(2)(A), inserted “or ancillary to” after “a proceeding before”.
Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 104–292, §5(2)(B), and Pub. L. 104–294, amended par. (3) identically, inserting period at end.
1994—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “title” for “part” before period at end.