Jose David Payba Lacayo v. United States

Petitioner, a foreign national found on a boat within 200 miles of Colombia, was prosecuted for two marijuana offenses under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (“MDLEA”). The questions presented are:

1. Are Congress’s powers under Article I, Section 8, Clause 10 of the United States Constitution, which authorizes Congress “[t]o define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations,” limited by international law?

2. Does 46 U.S.C. § 70502(d)(1)(C) of the MDLEA exceed Congress’s powers by authorizing the United States to assert jurisdiction over foreign nationals for wholly foreign, extraterritorial crimes, in violation of international law?

3. Does Congress’s power “[t]o define and punish . . . Felonies committed on the high Seas,” authorize the United States to enforce its criminal laws upon foreign nationals for offenses committed inside a foreign nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone?