Opinion ID: 203945
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Constitutional Power

Text: In addition to the due process problem, a separate basis supports vacatur here: the MDLEA, as applied without a nexus requirement, is beyond Congress's power. See Kontorovich, Beyond the Article I Horizon, supra; Eugene Kontorovich, The Define and Punish Clause and the Limits of Universal Jurisdiction, 103 Nw. U.L.Rev. 149 (2009). The MDLEA, as applied without a nexus requirement, cannot be legitimately based on the Piracy and Felonies clause, which gives Congress the power to define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas and Offenses against the Law of Nations. U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 10. The term Felonies has not been read to include all felonies, but rather only felonies with an adequate jurisdictional nexus to the United States. See, e.g., United States v. Furlong, 18 U.S. 184, 197, 5 Wheat. 184, 5 L.Ed. 64 (1820). The Furlong decision rejected a prosecution for murder of a foreigner by another foreigner on a foreign vessel. Id. In so doing, the Court effectively distinguished between Felonies, which are not subject to universal jurisdiction, and Piracy, which is. Id. at 196-198, 5 Wheat. 184 (If by calling murder piracy, it might assert a jurisdiction over that offence committed by a foreigner in a foreign vessel, what offence might not be brought within their power by the same device?). This understanding is also demonstrated by congressional hesitance to prohibit the slave trade unless there was a nexus between the defendant and the United States. See Kontorovich, Beyond the Article I Horizon, supra, at 1207-17. Even though the term Piracy has evolved to include other crimes that are universally condemned (as the slave trade has since become), the drug trade is not subject to universal jurisdiction. See id. at 1223-27. [2] As explained above, the protective principle also does not support exercise without nexus. Id. at 1229-31. Nor can the consent from other nations be deemed some form of extension of legislative power by treaty. [3] Id. at 1227-29, 1238-48. Further, no other Article I powers save the MDLEA. Id. at 1237-51 (explaining that treaty power does not apply and that foreign commerce clause power does not apply absent a nexus). Thus, the exercise of Congressional power in enacting the MDLEA is not consistent with the Constitution, which limits Congress's power to proscribe crimes on the high sea to crimes of universal jurisdiction and crimes with a U.S. nexus.