18 U.S.C. § 701
Section 701 · Official badges, identification cards, other insignia
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 29 court decisions — leading case Dickerson ex rel. Davison v. Napolitano (2010)
Most recently applied in United States v. Jay Diamond (June 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 manufactures, sells, or possesses any badge, identification card, or other insignia, of the design prescribed by the head of any department or agency of the United States for use by any officer or employee thereof, or any colorable imitation thereof, or photographs, prints, or in any other manner makes or executes any engraving, photograph, print, or impression in the likeness of any such badge, identification card, or other insignia, or any colorable imitation thereof, except as authorized under regulations made pursuant to law, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§76a, 76b (June 29, 1932, ch. 306, §§1, 2, 47 Stat. 342; May 22, 1939, ch. 141, 53 Stat. 752).
Sections were consolidated.
The term “department or agency” was substituted for “department or independent office” in two places to embrace all properly constituted agencies as defined in section 6 of this title and to eliminate any possible ambiguity as to scope of section.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $250”.