United States v. Adamu
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Affirmed
Two pilots convicted of conspiring to traffic multi-ton quantities of cocaine from South America to Africa and Europe challenged their convictions, arguing that 21 U.S.C. § 959 lacks extraterritorial reach, the government violated their Sixth Amendment rights by reviewing privileged documents, and that cellphone-extraction evidence was improperly admitted. The Second Circuit rejected each argument, reaffirmed its prior precedent that § 959 applies extraterritorially, found no Kastigar violation, deemed the digital evidence properly authenticated (and any error harmless), and therefore affirmed the convictions and sentences.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether 21 U.S.C. § 959 applies extraterritorially to the offense of possession with intent to distribute narcotics.
Circuit Positions
§ 959 applies extraterritorially to possession-with-intent-to-distribute offenses.
§ 959 does NOT apply extraterritorially to possession-with-intent-to-distribute offenses absent clear statutory indication.
Conflict Summary
The Second Circuit holds that § 959 applies extraterritorially in its entirety, including to acts of possession with intent to distribute, while the D.C. Circuit holds that the statute lacks a clear indication of extraterritorial reach for possession-with-intent offenses and therefore does not extend abroad.