---
kind: "section"
citation: "28 U.S.C. § 2249"
title: "28"
title_heading: "Judiciary and Judicial Procedure"
number: "2249"
heading: "Certified copies of indictment, plea and judgment; duty of respondent"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/28/2249"
units:
  - "Part VI — Particular Proceedings"
  - "Chapter 153 — Habeas Corpus"
---

# §2249. Certified copies of indictment, plea and judgment; duty of respondent


On application for a writ of habeas corpus to inquire into the detention of any [person](/usc/28/3002.md?p=10) pursuant to a [judgment](/usc/28/3002.md?p=8) of a [court](/usc/28/3002.md?p=2) of the [United States](/usc/28/3002.md?p=15), the respondent shall promptly file with the [court](/usc/28/3002.md?p=2) certified copies of the indictment, plea of [petitioner](/usc/28/2341.md?p=2) and the [judgment](/usc/28/3002.md?p=8), or such of them as may be material to the questions raised, if the [petitioner](/usc/28/2341.md?p=2) fails to attach them to his petition, and same shall be attached to the return to the writ, or to the answer to the order to show cause.


## Source credit

(June 25, 1948, ch. 646, 62 Stat. 966.)

## Notes

### Historical and Revision Notes

Derived from H.R. 4232, Seventy-ninth Congress, first session. It conforms to the prevailing practice in habeas corpus proceedings.