42 U.S.C. § 2281
Section 2281 · Contempt proceedings
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case United States v. Garde (1987)
Most recently applied in United States v. Oncology Services Corp. (July 1995)
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.
In case of failure or refusal to obey a subpena served upon any person pursuant to section 2201(c) of this title, the district court for any district in which such person is found or resides or transacts business, upon application by the Attorney General on behalf of the United States, shall have jurisdiction to issue an order requiring such person to appear and give testimony or to appear and produce documents, or both, in accordance with the subpena; and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
Provisions similar to this section were contained in section 1816(d) of this title, prior to the general amendment and renumbering of act Aug. 1, 1946, by act Aug. 30, 1954.
Transfer of Functions
Atomic Energy Commission abolished and functions transferred by sections 5814 and 5841 of this title. See also Transfer of Functions notes set out under those sections.
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Subpena, see rule 45, Title 28, Appendix, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.