Contempts constituting crimes
Official text prohibited actmental stateif conditionpenaltylegal term
Any person, corporation or association disobeying any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command of any district court of the United States, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review established by section 103 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803), or any court of the District of Columbia, by doing any act or thing therein, or thereby forbidden, if the act or thing so done be of such character as to constitute also a criminal offense under any statute of the United States or under the laws of any State in which the act was committed, shall be prosecuted for such contempt as provided in section 3691 of this title and shall be punished by a or imprisonment, or both.
Such fine shall be paid to the United States or to the complainant or other party injured by the act constituting the contempt, or may, where more than one is so damaged, be divided or apportioned among them as the court may direct, but in no case shall the fine to be paid to the United States exceed, in case the accused is a natural person, the sum of $1,000, nor shall such imprisonment exceed the term of six months.
This section shall not be construed to relate to contempts committed in the presence of the court, or so near thereto as to obstruct the administration of justice, nor to contempts committed in disobedience of any lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command entered in any suit or action brought or prosecuted in the name of, or on behalf of, the United States, but the same, and all other cases of contempt not specifically embraced in this section may be punished in conformity to the prevailing usages at law.
For purposes of this section, the term "State" includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.
History: (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 701 (PDF, 39 MB); May 24, 1949, ch. 139, §8(c), 63 Stat. 90 (PDF, 5.2 MB); Pub. L. 101–647, title XII, §1205(c), Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4830 (PDF, 27 MB); Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §§330011(f), 330016(2)(E), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2145 (PDF, 52 MB), 2148; Pub. L. 118–49, §14(a), Apr. 20, 2024, 138 Stat. 882.)
Simplified explanation
It is a federal crime (criminal contempt) to willfully disobey a lawful order of a federal district court, a District of Columbia court, or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, when the disobedient act is also a crime under federal or state law. It does not cover contempt committed in or near the courtroom, or disobeying orders in cases brought by the United States.