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§ 386. —  Deposition.



[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 2USC386]

 
                          TITLE 2--THE CONGRESS
 
                     CHAPTER 12--CONTESTED ELECTIONS
 
Sec. 386. Deposition


(a) Oral examination

    Either party may take the testimony of any person, including the 
opposing party, by deposition upon oral examination for the purpose of 
discovery or for use as evidence in the contested election case, or for 
both purposes. Depositions shall be taken only within the time for the 
taking of testimony prescribed in this section.

(b) Scope of examination

    Witnesses may be examined regarding any matter, not privileged, 
which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending 
contested election case, whether it relates to the claim or defense of 
the examining party or the claim or defense of the opposing party, 
including the existence, description, nature, custody, condition and 
location of any books, papers, documents, or other tangible things and 
the identity and location of persons having knowledge of relevant facts. 
After the examining party has examined the witness the opposing party 
may cross examine.

(c) Order and time of taking testimony

    The order in which the parties may take testimony shall be as 
follows:
    (1) Contestant may take testimony within thirty days after service 
of the answer, or, if no answer is served within the time provided in 
section 383 of this title, within thirty days after the time for answer 
has expired.
    (2) Contestee may take testimony within thirty days after 
contestant's time for taking testimony has expired.
    (3) If contestee has taken any testimony or has filed testimonial 
affidavits or stipulations under section 387(c) of this title, 
contestant may take rebuttal testimony within ten days after contestee's 
time for taking testimony has expired.

(d) Officer before whom testimony may be taken

    Testimony shall be taken before an officer authorized to administer 
oaths by the laws of the United States or of the place where the 
examination is held.

(e) Subpena

    Attendance of witnesses may be compelled by subpena as provided in 
section 388 of this title.

(f) Taking of testimony by party or his agent

    At the taking of testimony, a party may appear and act in person, or 
by his agent or attorney.

(g) Conduct of examination; recordation of testimony; notation of 
        objections; interrogatories

    The officer before whom testimony is to be taken shall put the 
witness under oath and shall personally, or by someone acting under his 
direction and in his presence, record the testimony of the witness. The 
testimony shall be taken stenographically and transcribed. All 
objections made at the time of examination to the qualifications of the 
officer taking the deposition, or to the manner of taking it, or to the 
evidence presented, or the conduct of any party, and any other objection 
to the proceedings, shall be noted by the officer upon the deposition. 
Evidence objected to shall be taken subject to the objections. In lieu 
of participating in the oral examination, a party served with a notice 
of deposition may transmit written interrogatories to the officer, who 
shall propound them to the witness and record the answers verbatim.

(h) Examination of deposition by witness; signature of witness or 
        officer; use of deposition

    When the testimony is fully transcribed, the deposition shall be 
submitted to the witness for examination and shall be read to or by him, 
unless such examination and reading are waived by the witness and the 
parties. Any changes in the form or substance which the witness desires 
to make shall be entered upon the deposition by the officer with a 
statement of the reasons given by the witness for making them. The 
deposition shall be signed by the witness, unless the parties by 
stipulation waive the signing or the witness is ill or cannot be found 
or refuses to sign. If the deposition is not signed by the witness, the 
officer shall sign it and note on the deposition the fact of the waiver 
or of the illness or the absence of the witness or the fact of refusal 
to sign together with the reason, if any, given therefor; and the 
deposition may then be used as fully as though signed, unless on a 
motion to suppress, the committee rules that the reasons given for the 
refusal to sign require rejection of the deposition in whole or in part.

(Pub. L. 91-138, Sec. 7, Dec. 5, 1969, 83 Stat. 286.)

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 387 of this title.



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