UNITED STATES
v.
STEVENSON (NO. 2)

U.S. | 1909-11-29
No. 293
215 U.S. 200 Supreme Court of the United States (1909) Negative Treatment
Also reported at: 54 L. Ed. 157 · 30 S. Ct. 37 · 1909 U.S. LEXIS 1747 · SCDB 1909-022
Cited by 26 cases

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Synopsis

In a companion case to United States v. Stevenson (No. 1), the defendant was indicted under federal conspiracy statutes for conspiring to assist alien contract laborers to migrate into the United States in violation of the Immigration Act of 1907. The Supreme Court reversed the lower court's dismissal of the conspiracy count, holding that since assisting contract labor immigration constitutes a crime under the Immigration Act, conspiring to commit such assistance is likewise an offense against the United States punishable under the federal conspiracy statute, even when Congress has prescribed a greater punishment for the conspiracy than for the underlying offense.

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Opinion of the Court
Mr. Justice Day

Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the court.

This casé was argued and submitted with' No. 292, just decided. The indictment herein in its second count charges a conspiracy, under § 5440 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, to commit the offense of assisting alien contract laborers to migrate into the United States, in violation of the statutes of the United States. Inasmuch as the court below . had already reached the conclusion, in considering the former case (No. 292, ante), that assisting alien contract laborers was not punishable as a crime by indictment under the Immigration Act, it held that it followed that to conspire to assist such migration was not an offense against the United States within the meaning of § 5440 of the Revised Statutes of the United States. That section provides:

“ If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United" States, or to defraud the United States in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such parties do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, all the parties to such conspiracy shall be liable to a penalty of not less than one thousand dollars and not more than ten thousand dollars, and to imprisonment not more than two years.”

Inasmuch as we have already held that Congress, in making the assistance of contract laborers into the United States a misdemeanor, has made the same a crime indictable as such under the Immigration Act of 1907, it-must necessarily follow that if two or more persons, as is charged in the indictment under consideration, conspire to assist such importation, they do conspire to commit an offense against the United States within the terms of § 5440 of the Revised Statutes of the United States*. In this view, applying the principles laid down in the opinion in case No. 292; ante, we think that the court below erred in sustaining the demurrer to the second count of the indictment. Nor does it make any difference that Congress has seen fit to affix a greater punishment to the conspiracy to commit the offense than is denounced against the offense itself; that is a matter to be determined by the legislative body having power to regulate the matter. Clune v. United States, 159 U. S. 590.

Judgment reversed.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • United States v. Rabinowich, 238 U.S. 78 (U.S. 1915)
    …is a different offense from the crime that is the object of the conspiracy. Callan v. Wilson, 127 U. S. 540, 555; Clune v. United States, 159 U. S. 590, 595; Williamson v. United States, 207 U. S. 425, 447; United States v. Stevenson [*86] (No. 2), 215 U. S. 200, 203. And see Burton v. United States, 202 U. S. 344, 377; Morgan v. Devine, 237 U. S. 632. The conspiracy, however fully formed, may fail of its object, however earnestly pursued; the contemplated crime may never be consummated; yet the conspiracy…
  • Hall v. United States, 109 F.2d 976 (10th Cir. 1940)
    …n v. Wilson, 127 U.S. 540, 555, 8 S.Ct. 1301, 32 L.Ed. 223, 288; Clune v. United States, 159 U.S. 590, 595, 16 S.Ct. 125, 40 L.Ed. 269, 271; Williamson v. United States, 207 U.S. 425, 447, 28 S.Ct. 163, 52 L.Ed. 278, 290; United States v. Stevenson, 215 U.S. 200, 203, 30 S.Ct. 37, 54 L.Ed. 157, 158. And see Burton v. United States, 202 U.S. 344, 377, 26 S.Ct. 688, 50 L.Ed. 1057, 1069, 6 Ann.Cas. 362; Morgan v. Devine, No. 685, decided this day (237 U.S. 632, 59 L.Ed. [1153], 35 S.Ct. 712). * * * “There mus…
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  • Middleton v. United States, 49 F.2d 538 (8th Cir. 1931)
    …L. Ed. 223, 228; Clune v. United States, 159 U. S. 599. 595, 16 S. Ct. 125, 49 L. Ed. 269, 271; Williamson v. United States, 297 U. S. 425, 447, 28 S. Ct. 163, 52 L. Ed. 278, 299; United States v. Stevenson (No. 2), 215 U. S. 299, 293, 39 S. Ct. 37, 54 L. Ed. 157, 158. And see Burton v. United States, 292 U. S. 344, 377, 26 S. Ct. 688, 59 L. Ed. 1957, 1969, 6 Ann. Cas. 362; Morgan v. Devine, 237 U. S. 632, 35 S. Ct. 712, 59 L. Ed. 1153. The conspiracy, however fully formed, may fail of its object, however e…

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