21 U.S.C. § 963
Section 963 · Attempt and conspiracy
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 1,163 court decisions — leading case United States v. Phillips (1981)
Most recently applied in United States v. Luz Fajardo Campos (May 2025)
Applied most in the Ninth Circuit Circuit (121 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 21 U.S.C. § 841 · 21 U.S.C. § 846 · 21 U.S.C. § 952
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Any person who attempts or conspires to commit any offense defined in this subchapter shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the attempt or conspiracy.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1988—Pub. L. 100–690 substituted “shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense” for “is punishable by imprisonment or fine or both which may not exceed the maximum punishment prescribed for the offense”.