Court Opinion

ID: 9427985
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:22:30.889776+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:11.010248
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Stevens,
with whom Mr. Justice White and Mr. Justice Rehnquist join, dissenting.
Should the directors of a narcotics distribution business be punished less severely than their subordinates who merely peddle the poison? It is unlikely that Congress so intended. See Callanan v. United States, 364 U. S. 587, 593-594.
Since an ordinary reading of § 406 1 of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 implies that a conspirator may be punished just as severely as a substantive offender, I would so construe the statute. This construction is fortified by the total absence of any statement by any legislator suggesting any purpose to treat conspirators in the drug trade with any greater lenity than substantive offenders.2 This is particularly important in view of the fact that prior to the 1970 Act, Congress had authorized *403identical penalties for conspiracies and completed offenses. See ante, at 391.
Because the statutory language conveys quite a different meaning to me, and because the Court has not paused to consider the narrow issue presented by this case in the context of the larger objectives Congress was seeking, I respectfully dissent.

 “Any person who attempts or conspires to commit any offense defined in this title is punishable by imprisonment or fine or both which may not exceed the maximum punishment prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the attempt or conspiracy.” 84 Stat. 1265, 21 U. S. C. § 846.

 Surely the Court’s reference ante, at 399, to the offense of attempt cuts the other way, for it is common for legislation to authorize the same range of punishments for attempts as for substantive offenses. See, e. g., American Law Institute, Model Penal Code § 5.05 (1) (Prop. Off. Draft 1962), which provides in part: “Except as otherwise provided in this Section, attempt, solicitation and conspiracy are crimes of the same grade and degree as the most serious offense which is attempted or solicited or is an object of the conspiracy.”