united-states criminal-law jurisdiction criminal-procedure
Jurisdiction Over A Crime Committed In An Airplane Flying Over U.S. States
<p>If a woman assaults another passenger while on a plane flying over the continental United States, which courts have jurisdiction to prosecute a criminal case against her?</p>
<p>(This question comes up in various iterations on a regular basis on Law.SE and so I ask and answer the question based upon a recent court decision that is on point.)</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Woman slaps fellow passenger on flight from Minneapolis to Los
Angeles, is convicted of assault in California.</p>
<p>Ninth Circuit (<a href="https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2019/04/11/17-50336.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">panel</a>): Wrong venue. She can only be prosecuted in
the district over which the assault occurred.</p>
<p>Ninth Circuit (<a href="https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2020/12/03/17-50336.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">en banc</a>, over a dissent): Nonsense. Not only would
that make it practically difficult to prosecute, the Framers couldn't
possibly have intended the Venue and Vicinage Clauses to include the
airspace over a state or district (had they foreseen metal tubes
carrying people while hurtling through the sky at 600 miles per hour).
Venue is proper where the plane lands <em>and any state it traveled through</em>; conviction affirmed.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>From <a href="https://reason.com/volokh/2020/12/04/short-circuit-a-roundup-of-recent-federal-court-decisions-83/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.</p>
