Robert Dexter Weir, et al. v. United States

Article I, section 8, clause 10, of the United States Constitution grants Congress the “Power . . . To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas.” The Eleventh Circuit held that Congress may rely on this authority to criminalize conduct that lacks any connection to the United States—including the extraterritorial acts of foreigners aboard foreign-flagged vessels that have no effect whatsoever on the United States. The question presented is: Whether Congress’s power to define and punish felonies committed on the high seas extends to conduct committed by foreign nationals on a foreign-flagged vessel, with no connection to the United States.