Federal · Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal Procedure

18 U.S.C. § 879: Threats against former Presidents and certain other persons

What this law says, in plain English

Federal law prohibits making threats against former Presidents, their immediate families, current and President-elect officials, major Presidential candidates, and Secret Service-protected persons.

Read the full statutory text

a former President or a member of the immediate family of a former President; a member of the immediate family of the President, the President-elect, the Vice President, or the Vice President-elect; a major candidate for the office of President or Vice President, or a member of the immediate family of such candidate; or a person protected by the Secret Service under section 3056(a)(6); with respect to subsection (a)(1) of this section, the spouse of a former President during a former President’s lifetime, the surviving spouse of a former President until the surviving spouse’s death or remarriage, and minor children of a former President until they reach sixteen years of age; and is related by blood, marriage, or adoption; or stands in loco parentis; the term “major candidate for the office of President or Vice President” means a candidate referred to in subsection (a)(7) of section 3056 of this title ; and the terms “President-elect” and “Vice President-elect” have the meanings given those terms in section 871(b) of this title .

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