United States v. Shabani

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United States v. Shabani

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued October 3, 1994
Decided November 1, 1994


Full case name:	United States, Petitioner v. Reshat Shabani

Citations:	513 U.S. 10; 115 S. Ct. 382, 130 L. Ed. 2d 225

Prior history:	Convicted, conspiracy to distribute cocaine; conviction overturned, 993 F. 2d 1419 (9th Circuit, 1993)

Subsequent history:	9th Circuit Reversed by Supreme Court and conviction upheld

Holding

Absent contrary indications, Congress intends to adopt the common law definition of statutory terms. The common law understanding of conspiracy "does not make the doing of any act other than the act of conspiring a condition of liability."

Court membership

Chief Justice: William Rehnquist
Associate Justices: John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer

Case opinions

Majority by: O'Connor
Joined by: unanimous

Laws applied

21 U.S.C. § 846

United States v. Shabani, 513 U.S. 10 (1994), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States regarding conspiracy liability under federal statutes. The Court ruled: "...Congress intended to adopt the common law definition of conspiracy, which does not make the doing of any act other than the act of conspiring a condition of liability..." This ruling indicated that conspiracy alone can be criminal.