18 U.S.C. § 2235
Section 2235 · Search warrant procured maliciously
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics (1969)
Most recently applied in 513 F. Supp. 2d 264 - Bansal v. Russ (April 2007)
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 maliciously and without probable cause procures a search warrant to be issued and executed, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, 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., §630 (June 15, 1917, ch. 30, title XI, §20, 40 Stat. 230).
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
2002—Pub. L. 107–273 inserted “, or both” after “year”.
1996—Pub. L. 104–294 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000”.