§ 1365. — Senate actions.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 28USC1365]
TITLE 28--JUDICIARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE
PART IV--JURISDICTION AND VENUE
CHAPTER 85--DISTRICT COURTS; JURISDICTION
Sec. 1365. Senate actions
(a) The United States District Court for the District of Columbia
shall have original jurisdiction, without regard to the amount in
controversy, over any civil action brought by the Senate or any
authorized committee or subcommittee of the Senate to enforce, to secure
a declaratory judgment concerning the validity of, or to prevent a
threatened refusal or failure to comply with, any subpena or order
issued by the Senate or committee or subcommittee of the Senate to any
entity acting or purporting to act under color or authority of State law
or to any natural person to secure the production of documents or other
materials of any kind or the answering of any deposition or
interrogatory or to secure testimony or any combination thereof. This
section shall not apply to an action to enforce, to secure a declaratory
judgment concerning the validity of, or to prevent a threatened refusal
to comply with, any subpena or order issued to an officer or employee of
the executive branch of the Federal Government acting within his or her
official capacity, except that this section shall apply if the refusal
to comply is based on the assertion of a personal privilege or objection
and is not based on a governmental privilege or objection the assertion
of which has been authorized by the executive branch of the Federal
Government.
(b) Upon application by the Senate or any authorized committee or
subcommittee of the Senate, the district court shall issue an order to
an entity or person refusing, or failing to comply with, or threatening
to refuse or not to comply with, a subpena or order of the Senate or
committee or subcommittee of the Senate requiring such entity or person
to comply forthwith. Any refusal or failure to obey a lawful order of
the district court issued pursuant to this section may be held by such
court to be a contempt thereof. A contempt proceeding shall be commenced
by an order to show cause before the court why the entity or person
refusing or failing to obey the court order should not be held in
contempt of court. Such contempt proceeding shall be tried by the court
and shall be summary in manner. The purpose of sanctions imposed as a
result of such contempt proceeding shall be to compel obedience to the
order of the court. Process in any such action or contempt proceeding
may be served in any judicial district wherein the entity or party
refusing, or failing to comply, or threatening to refuse or not to
comply, resides, transacts business, or may be found, and subpenas for
witnesses who are required to attend such proceeding may run into any
other district. Nothing in this section shall confer upon such court
jurisdiction to affect by injunction or otherwise the issuance or effect
of any subpena or order of the Senate or any committee or subcommittee
of the Senate or to review, modify, suspend, terminate, or set aside any
such subpena or order. An action, contempt proceeding, or sanction
brought or imposed pursuant to this section shall not abate upon
adjournment sine die by the Senate at the end of a Congress if the
Senate or the committee or subcommittee of the Senate which issued the
subpena or order certifies to the court that it maintains its interest
in securing the documents, answers, or testimony during such
adjournment.
[(c) Repealed. Pub. L. 98-620, title IV, Sec. 402(29)(D), Nov. 8,
1984, 98 Stat. 3359.]
(d) The Senate or any committee or subcommittee of the Senate
commencing and prosecuting a civil action or contempt proceeding under
this section may be represented in such action by such attorneys as the
Senate may designate.
(e) A civil action commenced or prosecuted under this section, may
not be authorized pursuant to the Standing Order of the Senate
``authorizing suits by Senate Committees'' (S. Jour. 572, May 28, 1928).
(f) For the purposes of this section the term ``committee'' includes
standing, select, or special committees of the Senate established by law
or resolution.
(Added Pub. L. 95-521, title VII, Sec. 705(f)(1), Oct. 26, 1978, 92
Stat. 1879, Sec. 1364; amended Pub. L. 98-620, title IV,
Sec. 402(29)(D), Nov. 8, 1984, 98 Stat. 3359; renumbered Sec. 1365, Pub.
L. 99-336, Sec. 6(a)(1)(B), June 19, 1986, 100 Stat. 638; Pub. L. 104-
292, Sec. 4, Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 3460.)
Amendments
1996--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104-292 substituted ``executive branch of
the Federal Government acting within his or her official capacity,
except that this section shall apply if the refusal to comply is based
on the assertion of a personal privilege or objection and is not based
on a governmental privilege or objection the assertion of which has been
authorized by the executive branch of the Federal Government'' for
``Federal Government acting within his official capacity''.
1984--Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 98-620 struck out subsec. (c) which
provided that in any civil action or contempt proceeding brought
pursuant to this section, the court had to assign the action or
proceeding for hearing at the earliest practicable date and cause the
action or proceeding in every way to be expedited, and that any appeal
or petition for review from any order or judgment in such action or
proceeding had to be expedited in the same manner.
Effective Date of 1984 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 98-620 not applicable to cases pending on Nov.
8, 1984, see section 403 of Pub. L. 98-620, set out as an Effective Date
note under section 1657 of this title.
Effective Date
Section effective Jan. 3, 1979, see section 717 of Pub. L. 95-521,
set out as a note under section 288 of Title 2, The Congress.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in title 2 section 288d.
