	Background

Administrative subpoena authority is the power vested in various administrative agencies to compel testimony or the production of documents or both in aid of the agencies' performance of their duties. Since then, proposals relating to the use of administrative subpoenas in criminal investigations have been confined to unregistered sex offenders, of the type ultimately enacted as part of the Child Protection Act of 2012. Criminal Administrative Subpoenas

Several statutes at least arguably authorize the use of administrative subpoenas primarily or exclusively for purposes of a criminal investigation. 3486 (administrative subpoenas in certain health care fraud, child abuse, and Secret Service protection cases); and (3) 5 U.S.C. (III) 6 (inspector general investigations). In a criminal investigation, however, the cases suggest that Fourth Amendment probable cause and warrant prerequisites may apply, when execution of the administrative subpoena involves the attributes of a search. It vests Section 3486's administrative subpoena power in the United States Marshals Service for use in tracking unregistered sex offenders. In one form or another, they endorse the general view that district courts must enforce administrative subpoenas that satisfy statutory requirements and conform to the reasonableness demands of the Fourth Amendment. Appendix A.
Administrative subpoena authority is the power vested in various administrative agencies to compel testimony or the production of documents or both in aid of the agencies' performance of their duties. Administrative subpoenas are not a traditional tool of criminal law investigation, but neither are they unknown. Several statutes authorize the use of administrative subpoenas primarily or exclusively for use in a criminal investigation in cases involving health care fraud, child abuse, Secret Service protection, controlled substance cases, inspector general investigations, and tracking unregistered sex offenders.
Proponents cite administrative subpoenas as a quick, efficient, and relatively unintrusive law enforcement tool. Opponents express concern that they may result in unchecked invasions of privacy and evasions of the Fourth Amendment warrant and probable cause requirements.
The courts have determined that, as long as they are not executed in a manner reminiscent of a warrant, administrative subpoenas issued in aid of a criminal investigation must be judicially enforced if they satisfy statutory requirements and are not unreasonable by Fourth Amendment standards.
The Child Protection Act of 2012, P.L. 112-206 (H.R. 6063) authorized the United States Marshals Service to issue administrative subpoenas in aid of tracking unregistered sex offenders.
This report is available abridged—without footnotes, appendixes, and most of the citations to authority—as CRS Report RS22407, Administrative Subpoenas in Criminal Investigations: A Sketch, by [author name scrubbed].