Opinion ID: 1770805
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Power to Define Piracies and Felonies

Text: The Constitution's grant of power to Congress to define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on high Seas, U.S. Const., art. I, § 8, cl. 10, does not preclude states from punishing an act that also violates the state's laws. The same act or omission can offend the laws of both the state and federal government. See Abbate, 359 U.S. at 194, 79 S.Ct. 666 ([A]n act denounced as a crime by both national and state sovereignties is an offense against the peace and dignity of both and may be punished by each.) (quoting United States v. Lanza, 260 U.S. 377, 382, 43 S.Ct. 141, 142, 67 L.Ed. 314 (1922)). For example, although the United States Constitution grants Congress the power to define and punish ... offenses against the Law of Nations, U.S. Const., art. I, § 8, cl. 10, both Congress and the states can prosecute a criminal for counterfeiting foreign currency. See United States v. Arjona, 120 U.S. 479, 487, 7 S.Ct. 628, 632, 30 L.Ed. 728 (1887). Therefore, the same felony on the high seas can violate the laws of both the United States and a state, and be subject to prosecution by both the state and the federal government. Accordingly, this constitutional provision is not implicated.