I understand and appreciate that, on the high seas, the United States can exercise jurisdiction over "stateless" vessels. So if, for example, you're carrying a ton of drugs, you're 655 miles west of the Galapagos Islands, and your ship isn't flying the flag of -- or registered in -- any particular nation, then by not subjecting yourself to the jurisdiction of any particular nation, you're de jure subjecting yourself to the jurisdiction of every nation. So any nation can board your vessel and prosecute you for having the drugs, even if those drugs weren't necessarily intended for that particular nation. That rule likely comes out of the pirate days, and okay, I can get on board for it.
But, here, the facts seem a little different. The two people on the go-fast boat (with the cocaine) are clearly from Ecuador, and the closest landmass is Ecuador. When the U.S. Coast Guard wants to board the ship and search it, it asks permission of Ecuador, which says that it's indeed an Ecuadorian ship and gives the U.S. permission. When the Coast Guard asks the captain(s) of the ship what nationality their ship is from, they both say: "Ecuador."
But, after the Coast Guard searches and finds the cocaine, the Coast Guard again asks Ecuador whether the ship is from Ecuador, and Ecuador then says it can "neither confirm nor deny" that it's from there.
Which, according to the Ninth Circuit, means -- under federal law and permissible international law -- that the ship is stateless, and its occupants can be prosecuted by every nation in the universe.
Doesn't it seem weird, though, that prior to searching, the U.S. was allowed to do so only after Ecuador said it was a ship from Ecuador . . . but, thereafter, said that Ecuador had no idea if it the ship was from there? Doesn't this rule also give rise to easy circumvention of jurisdictional requirements? If a state can simply "refuse to confirm or deny" whether a ship is from that country, and thereby grant jurisdiction to every other nation, how is that at all consistent with fundamental fairness, and how are the occupants of that ship supposed to know that they're suddenly subject to the jurisdiction of whatever nation -- say, Iran, or North Korea -- feels like prosecuting them?
Plus, at a more fundamental level, isn't this ship obviously from Ecuador? It just seems weird to say that when every indication in the universe is that the ship's from Ecuador, we can just ignore that fact as long as Ecuador itself doesn't feel -- for whatever reason -- like responding to our inquiries about whether the ship is in fact from Ecuador, like every single objective measure unambiguously suggests.
I know that the law on the high seas is weird, and I don't pretend to be an expert on it.
But still. This seems strange.
