Begging To Be Sued

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A federal subpoena is a formal request for information or property issued by a federal court judge. A subpoena is a legal order that commands the person requested to either appear, turn over information, or surrender property to a law enforcement official. A subpoena is appropriate to compel a witness to testify in the event of a crime or to compel someone to turn over evidence or property.




The most common reason for a subpoena is when a witness to a crime, or to an incident giving rise to a legal cause of action, does not wish to testify. The person is referred to as a hostile witness because he may have the necessary information a plaintiff, prosecutor or defendant needs to prove his case, but he may be unwilling to turn over that information for some reason. As such, a subpoena can compel him to come to court to share what he knows or to turn over the evidence desired. Because the justice system depends on the court, judge and jury receiving as much information as possible to decide a case, the court has the right to issue the subpoena to compel testimony in the interest of justice.



Therefore, a federal subpoena will only be issued by a federal judge in cases being heard in federal court. One or the other party — either the plaintiff, prosecutor or defendant — will make a request that the judge issue the subpoena to help him collect the evidence he needs to make his case. The judge will review the request for the federal subpoena and issue it or deny it. The federal subpoena will then be delivered to the person being subpoenaed and he will either have to comply with the request made in the subpoena or he will be held in contempt of federal court and possibly subject to jail time.