Drug Seizure on High Seas Upheld Under Questionable Precedent

Drug traffickers’ constitutional challenge to the provision of the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act under which their seizure was made was rejected by the First Circuit.

Circuit precedent required the outcome, the opinion by Judge Kermit V. Lipez said. But in a separate concurrence, he added that precedent should be addressed by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Jeffri Davila-Reyes and Jose D. Reyes-Valdivia are citizens of Costa Rica. They were on a boat stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard in international waters.

The government of Costa Rica wouldn’t confirm or deny registry of the vessel. ...