US Can Enforce Drug Trafficking Law in Broad Area of ‘High Seas’

The US can enforce a law aimed at curbing drug trafficking on the high seas, even in the exclusive economic zones of other countries, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Friday.

The ruling affirms convictions of three defendants under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, which makes it a crime to engage in drug trafficking while on a vessel “subject to the jurisdiction of the United States,” the court said.

That definition includes “stateless vessels” found in EEZs—areas 200 nautical miles seaward of and adjacent to a nation’s territorial waters, which typically extend to 12 nautical miles offshore.

The felonies clause ...