Critics say that administrative subpoena authority is a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, while proponents say that it provides a valuable investigative tool.
More recently, public law 106-544 dated December 19, 2000, the Department of Justice has attempted to expand administrative subpoena authority to terrorism investigations through amendments to the Patriot Act.
[4][5] The United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also frequently utilizes administrative subpoenas to initiate civil investigations of U.S. economic sanctions violations.
Courts typically exercise substantial deference to the agency requesting the subpoena in deciding whether to enforce it.
[6][7] The decision of a district court to enforce an administrative subpoena is reviewed for abuse of discretion,[8] itself a deferential standard.