Opinion ID: 4503119
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: defendants’ constitutional claims

Text: As a threshold matter, all defendants argue that the MDLEA is unconstitutional because: (1) Congress’s power to define and punish felonies on the high seas is limited to felonies bearing a “nexus” to the United States; (2) due process prohibits the prosecution of foreign nationals for offenses bearing no “nexus” to the United States; and (3) the MDLEA violates the Fifth and Sixth 24 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 25 of 97 Amendments by removing the determination of jurisdictional facts from the jury. 10 As the defendants concede, each of these constitutional arguments is foreclosed by our binding precedent. First, this Court has held that the MDLEA is a valid exercise of Congress’s power under the Felonies Clause as applied to drug trafficking crimes without a “nexus” to the United States. See Campbell, 743 F.3d at 809-10; see also United States v. Valois, 915 F.3d 717, 722 (11th Cir.) (following Campbell and reaching the same holding), cert. denied, 140 S. Ct. 263 (2019); United States v. Cruickshank, 837 F.3d 1182, 1187-88 (11th Cir. 2016) (following Campbell and reaching the same holding); United States v. Estupinan, 453 F.3d 1336, 1338-39 (11th Cir. 2006). Second, this Court has held that the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause does not prohibit the trial and conviction of aliens captured on the high seas while drug trafficking because the MDLEA provides clear notice that all nations prohibit and condemn drug trafficking aboard stateless vessels on the high seas. See United States v. Rendon, 354 F.3d 1320, 1326 (11th Cir. 2003); see also Valois, 915 F.3d at 722 (following Rendon and reaching the same holding). The defendants’ MDLEA convictions thus do not violate their due process rights even if their offenses lack a “nexus” to the United States. See, e.g., United States v. 10 We review de novo a district court’s interpretation of a statute and whether a statute is constitutional. United States v. Valois, 915 F.3d 717, 722 n.1 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 140 S. Ct. 263 (2019). 25 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 26 of 97 Wilchcombe, 838 F.3d 1179, 1186 (11th Cir. 2016); Campbell, 743 F.3d at 812. Third, this Court has held that, because the MDLEA’s jurisdictional requirement goes to the subject-matter jurisdiction of the courts and is not an essential element of the MDLEA substantive offense, it does not have to be submitted to the jury for proof beyond a reasonable doubt. See United States v. Tinoco, 304 F.3d 1088, 1109-12 (11th Cir. 2002); see also Valois, 915 F.3d at 722 (following Tinoco and reaching the same holding); Cruickshank, 837 F.3d at 1192 (following Tinoco and reaching the same holding); Campbell, 743 F.3d at 809 (following Tinoco and Rendon and reaching the same holding); Rendon, 354 F.3d at 1326-28 (following Tinoco and reaching the same holding). The defendants also claim that: (1) the admission of a certification of the U.S. Secretary of State to establish extraterritorial jurisdiction, especially where a vessel is declared “stateless,” violates the Confrontation Clause and constitutes inadmissible hearsay; and (2) the certification procedure as to the jurisdictional element violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment by allowing an act of foreign omission to substitute for the government’s burden of proof on a “material element.” See 46 U.S.C. § 70502(d)(2) (providing that, when a master or individual in charge makes a claim of registry, the foreign nation may respond “by radio, telephone, or similar oral or electronic means,” and the foreign nation’s response “is proved conclusively by certification of the Secretary of State or the 26 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 27 of 97 Secretary’s designee”). Ultimately, the government never introduced a certification from the Secretary of State, and thus we need not address these issues. In any event, as the government points out, this Court has already held that the introduction of a Secretary of State certification to establish extraterritorial jurisdiction under the MDLEA does not violate the Confrontation Clause and does not constitute inadmissible hearsay. See Campbell, 743 F.3d at 806-08 (“The Confrontation Clause does not bar the admission of hearsay to make a pretrial determination of jurisdiction when that hearsay does not pertain to an element of the offense.”); Cruickshank, 837 F.3d at 1192 (“A United States Department of State certification of jurisdiction under the MDLEA does not implicate the Confrontation Clause because it does not affect the guilt or innocence of a defendant.”); see also Valois, 915 F.3d at 722-23 (following Campbell and Cruickshank and reaching the same holding). In Campbell, we determined that because the stateless nature of the defendant’s vessel was not an element of his MDLEA offense to be proved at trial, the admission of the Secretary of State certification did not violate a defendant’s right to confront the witnesses against him. 743 F.3d at 806. 11 11 In his brief, Guagua-Alarcon argues that the MDLEA’s certification procedure also violates separation of powers by unconstitutionally delegating the jurisdiction determination to the executive branch, as opposed to the judiciary or the jury. Prior to the 1996 amendment to the MDLEA, this Court held that the MDLEA’s certification procedure did not implicate separation of powers. United States v. Rojas, 53 F.3d 1212, 1214-15 (11th Cir. 1995), superseded by statute as recognized in Campbell, 743 F.3d at 803-04. We explained that the certification 27 Case: 17-14294 Date Filed: 01/30/2020 Page: 28 of 97 Based on our binding precedent, we conclude that the defendants have not shown that the MDLEA is unconstitutional. 12