18 U.S.C. § 503
Section 503 · Postmarking stamps
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case United States v. Doe (1998)
Most recently applied in Yanez v. Holder (July 2001)
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.
Whoever forges or counterfeits any postmarking stamp, or impression thereof with intent to make it appear that such impression is a genuine postmark, or makes or knowingly uses or sells, or possesses with intent to use or sell, any forged or counterfeited postmarking stamp, die, plate, or engraving, or such impression thereof, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §349a (Aug. 26, 1935, ch. 692, 49 Stat. 866).
Minor changes in phraseology were made.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000”.