of statutory jurisdiction under the MDLEA.

B. Constitutionality of the MDLEA as Applied in this Case

Defendants next contest the constitutionality of the MDLEA as applied to their alleged criminal conduct on the ground that the Congress lacked the authority to extend the jurisdiction of the United States to vessels such as theirs only observed and interdicted in the territorial waters of Panama, without any evidence that the cocaine allegedly aboard the vessel was destined for the United States. Essentially, defendants maintained that the MDLEA rests on Congress' authority under article I, section 8, clause 10 of the Untied States Constitution which is limited to felonies occurring aboard vessels on the high seas. Here, defendants contend, the charged offenses involve transportation of cocaine between Colombia and Panama only with noallegation or proof that the subject vessel traveled in international waters before being interdicted in Panama. Defendants note that this is an issue of "first impression" in that no reported judicial decisions involved a constitutional challenge to United States jurisdiction over a vessel located in the territorial waters of another country involving offenses which bear no nexus to the United States.
The government concedes that this a case of first impression and that Congress' authority to enact the MDLEA rests on the "piracy and felonies on the high seas" provision of the United States Constitution. In its initial response, the government simply noted that federal courts including courts in this circuit have uniformly rejected this same argument finding that the MDLEA has no requirement of a nexus between a