28 U.S.C. § 2007
Section 2007 · Imprisonment for debt
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 28 court decisions — leading case McDonald's Corp. v. Victory Investments (1984)
Most recently applied in Garrett v. Coventry II DDR/Trademark Montgomery Farm, L.P. (February 2015)
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) A person shall not be imprisoned for debt on a writ of execution or other process issued from a court of the United States in any State wherein imprisonment for debt has been abolished. All modifications, conditions, and restrictions upon such imprisonment provided by State law shall apply to any writ of execution or process issued from a court of the United States in accordance with the procedure applicable in such State.
(b) Any person arrested or imprisoned in any State on a writ of execution or other process issued from any court of the United States in a civil action shall have the same jail privileges and be governed by the same regulations as persons confined in like cases on process issued from the courts of such State. The same requirements governing discharge as are applicable in such State shall apply. Any proceedings for discharge shall be conducted before a United States magistrate judge for the judicial district wherein the defendant is held.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§843, 844, and 845 (R.S. §§990, 991, 992; May 28, 1896, ch. 252, §19, 29 Stat. 184; Mar. 2, 1901, ch. 814, 31 Stat. 956; Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, §291, 36 Stat. 1167).
Changes were made in phraseology.
Change of Name
“United States magistrate judge” substituted for “United States magistrate” in subsec. (b) pursuant to section 321 of Pub. L. 101–650, set out as a note under section 631 of this title. Previously, “United States magistrate” substituted for “United States commissioner” pursuant to Pub. L. 90–578. See chapter 43 (§631 et seq.) of this title.