Doe v. United States
United States Supreme Court
487 U.S. 201 (1988)

- Written by Alex Ruskell, JD
Facts
John Doe, an unnamed defendant, was subpoenaed by a grand jury to produce records from three banks in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. Doe produced some records and testified that no other records were in his possession. When questioned about additional records, Doe invoked the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. The grand jury then issued subpoenas to the banks, but the banks refused to comply because local laws prohibited disclosure of bank records without customer consent. The prosecution then asked the district court to order Doe to sign a form stating that he was “directing any bank at which I may have a bank account of any kind or at which a corporation has a bank account of any kind upon which I am authorized to draw” to deliver records to the grand jury. Doe refused to sign, and the district court held him in contempt. Doe appealed, and the court of appeals affirmed. Doe appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Blackmun, J.)
Dissent (Stevens, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 816,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.