5 U.S.C. § 1507 — Subpenas and depositions
submitted 60 years ago by Pub. L. 89-554 to r/title-5-GOVERNMENT-ORGANIZATION-AND-EMPLOYEES · 388 words · no verdicts yet
The Merit Systems Protection Board may compel witnesses to attend, testify, and produce documents. It may use depositions and ask a federal court to enforce subpoenas. A person cannot refuse compelled testimony or documents just because they might be incriminating, but the person may still be prosecuted for perjury.
(a) The Merit Systems Protection Board may issue a subpoena requiring witnesses to attend and testify and requiring documents about a matter before the Board under this chapter. Any Board member may sign a subpoena. Board members and examiners whom the Board authorizes may administer oaths, question witnesses, and receive evidence. The Board may require witnesses to attend and documents to be produced from anywhere in the United States at the hearing place. If someone disobeys a subpoena, the Board may ask a federal court to require that person to attend, testify, or produce documents. If a person refuses to obey a subpoena, the United States district court where the inquiry is being conducted may order the person to appear before the Board, produce documents if ordered, or give evidence about the matter. If the person disobeys the court's order, the court may punish the person for contempt.
(b) At any stage of a proceeding or investigation under this chapter, the Board may order testimony to be taken by deposition. A deposition may be taken before a person designated by the Board who may administer oaths. That person, or someone acting under that person's direction, must put the testimony in writing, and the person giving the testimony must sign it. Anyone may be compelled to appear, give a deposition, and produce documents before the Board as this section provides.
(c) A person may not avoid attending and testifying, producing documents, or obeying a subpoena because the required testimony or evidence might tend to incriminate the person or expose the person to a penalty or forfeiture for a transaction, matter, or thing about which the person is compelled to testify or produce evidence before the Board. But a person who gives such testimony is not protected from prosecution and punishment for perjury committed while giving it.
The Merit Systems Protection Board may require by subpena the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence relating to any matter before it as a result of this chapter. Any member of the Board may sign subpenas, and members of the Board and its examiners when authorized by the Board may administer oaths, examine witnesses, and receive evidence. The attendance of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence may be required from any place in the United States at the designated place of hearing. In case of disobedience to a subpena, the Board may invoke the aid of a court of the United States in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence. In case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpena issued to a person, the United States District Court within whose jurisdiction the inquiry is carried on may issue an order requiring him to appear before the Board, or to produce documentary evidence if so ordered, or to give evidence concerning the matter in question; and any failure to obey the order of the court may be punished by the court as a contempt thereof.
The Board may order testimony to be taken by deposition at any stage of a proceeding or investigation before it as a result of this chapter. Depositions may be taken before an individual designated by the Board and having the power to administer oaths. Testimony shall be reduced to writing by the individual taking the deposition, or under his direction, and shall be subscribed by the deponent. Any person may be compelled to appear and depose and to produce documentary evidence before the Board as provided by this section.
A person may not be excused from attending and testifying or from producing documentary evidence or in obedience to a subpena on the ground that the testimony or evidence, documentary or otherwise, required of him may tend to incriminate him or subject him to a penalty or forfeiture for or on account of any transaction, matter, or thing concerning which he is compelled to testify, or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, before the Board in obedience to a subpena issued by it. A person so testifying is not exempt from prosecution and punishment for perjury committed in so testifying.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 406; Pub. L. 95–454, title IX, § 906(a)(6), Oct. 13, 1978, 92 Stat. 1225.)
- 1966Enacted · Pub. L. 89-554 · 80 Stat. 406
- 1978Amended · Pub. L. 95-454 · 92 Stat. 1225
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 89-554 on 1966-09-06.
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