“Because drug trafficking is not a violation of customary international law, we hold that Congress exceeded its power, under the Offences Clause, when it proscribed the defendants’ conduct in the territorial waters of Panama.” So holds a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in a ruling issued today.

Today’s ruling overturns federal criminal convictions obtained under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act.

“Property rights take center stage in disputes over wetlands, flooding”: Lawrence Hurley of Greenwire has a report that begins, “After several years of paying little attention to property rights — a darling cause of conservative activists — the Supreme Court has abruptly changed course.”

“Wanna Cut the Line to Vote? Just Become a Supreme Court Justice.” DCist has this report.

“SCOTUS to decide if trademark counterclaim outlasts original suit”: Erin Geiger Smith has this report at Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight.

“Court of Appeals Judge Jones Dies”: New York Law Journal has a news update that begins, “Judge Theodore Jones Jr., a member of the state Court of Appeals since 2007, died overnight of an apparent heart attack. He was 68.”

The New York State Court of Appeals is that state’s highest court.

Update: In other coverage, Reuters reports that “NY Court of Appeals Judge Jones dies at 68.”

Attorneys as poll watchers (suburban Philadelphia edition): I appeared at my local polling place in the northwestern suburbs of Philadelphia at 9:30 a.m. only to hear “Hey, it’s mister appellate” from my polling place’s regular Democratic pamphleteer. On my way out, he explained that he recently watched me present an oral argument to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

There were no lines to vote at that time — which is why I decided to go then — but I was told that the turnout thus far was quite strong.

Photo ID was requested at the sign-in table, and when I refused to produce photo ID (giving the explanation that I was doing it “just to see what would happen”), one of the women working the table responded, “My husband did the exact same thing when he was here to vote.”

What happened was essentially nothing. I was allowed to sign-in and vote based on the usual signature comparison approach, and I received a small piece of paper explaining Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law.

“Supreme Court Hears 2 Cases Over Class Actions”: Adam Liptak has this article today in The New York Times.

My earlier coverage of yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments can be accessed here.

“Constitution Check: Would an Obama victory turn the Supreme Court sharply to the left?” Lyle Denniston has this post at the “Constitution Daily” blog of the National Constitution Center.

“Ready for a Recount?” Jeffrey Toobin has this blog post online at The New Yorker.

And today’s edition of The New York Times contains an article headlined “In Case of a Recount, a Long Wait for Ohio.”