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Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-06 10:51:44 -04:00

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LegalText 18 U.S.C. § 871 Threats against President and successors to the Presidency us united_states_code code_section 18 CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE 41 EXTORTION AND THREATS 871 18 U.S.C. § 871 current 119-100 2026-06-26 official https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc18@119-100.zip /us/usc/t18/s871 data/legal/raw/us/code/title-18/usc18.xml abb1fce4d4648af6a404e6d1f03df09f222d098b5b08637400afb4068b40802d 1a1bbbbdb59e376ada4eb7ad1056fd68d396679ee7ab59f0561af15006122708 fb4673efe008f3c792382c4530a4111fb41a5431b418e1e05c779a54da2c6923 2026-07-04 official
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18 U.S.C. § 871 - Threats against President and successors to the Presidency

Text

(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or for a delivery from any post office or by any letter carrier any letter, paper, writing, print, missive, or document containing any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect, or knowingly and willfully otherwise makes any such threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President, or Vice President-elect, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(b) The terms “President-elect” and “Vice President-elect” as used in this section shall mean such persons as are the apparent successful candidates for the offices of President and Vice President, respectively, as ascertained from the results of the general elections held to determine the electors of President and Vice President in accordance with title 3, United States Code, sections 1 and 2. The phrase “other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President” as used in this section shall mean the person next in the order of succession to act as President in accordance with title 3, United States Code, sections 19 and 20.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 740; June 1, 1955, ch. 115, § 1, 69 Stat. 80; Pub. L. 87829, § 1, Oct. 15, 1962, 76 Stat. 956; Pub. L. 97297, § 2, Oct. 12, 1982, 96 Stat. 1318; Pub. L. 103322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(H), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)

Notes

Historical and Revision NotesBased on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 89 (Feb. 14, 1917, ch. 64, 39 Stat. 919). Reference to persons causing or procuring was omitted as unnecessary in view of definition of “principal” in section 2 of this title. Minor changes were made in phraseology.

Editorial Notes

Amendments1994—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000”. 1982—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 97297 inserted “, to kidnap,” after “containing any threat to take the life of”. 1962—Pub. L. 87829 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), extended the provisions of such subsection to include any other officer next on the order of succession to the office of President and the Vice-President-elect, added subsec. (b), and substituted “and successors to the Presidency” for “, President-elect, and Vice President” in section catchline. 1955—Act June 1, 1955, included in section catchline and in text, provision for penalties for threats against the President-elect and the Vice President.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title of 2000 AmendmentPub. L. 106544, § 1, Dec. 19, 2000, 114 Stat. 2715, provided that: “This Act [amending sections 879, 3056 and 3486 of this title, repealing section 3486A of this title, and enacting provisions set out as notes under section 3056 of this title, section 551 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, and section 566 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure] may be cited as the Presidential Threat Protection Act of 2000.”