Which senators sponsored or co-sponsored the Maritime Drug Enforcement Act of 1986?
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Executive summary
The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA) was enacted in 1986 as part of broader congressional action on narcotics (the Anti‑Drug Abuse Act / Drug Enforcement Act packages) and is codified at 46 U.S.C. ch. 705 (Pub. L. 99–640 and related statutes) [1][2]. Available sources in the provided set describe the Act’s passage and statutory location but do not list the specific Senate sponsors or cosponsors of the 1986 enactment by name; Congress.gov and U.S. Code references show the MDLEA as part of bills in the 99th Congress but do not in these excerpts identify individual senators as sponsors [3][4][1].
1. What the sources say about the law’s origin and placement
Congress folded the MDLEA into larger 1986 anti‑drug legislation: it appears within the Anti‑Drug Abuse Act / Drug Enforcement Act legislative packages of the 99th and related Congresses, and the provisions were later codified as Maritime Drug Law Enforcement at 46 U.S.C., chapter 705 [3][4][1]. U.S. Code and government publishing office material record statutory changes and cite Pub. L. 99–640 and related public laws as the vehicle for the maritime provisions [2][1].
2. Why sponsors matter and why the sources here fall short
Identifying the senator who sponsored or cosponsored the specific 1986 MDLEA provisions requires bill‑level metadata (sponsor names, sponsor statements, committee reports). The Congress.gov item shown is a bill summary (S.2850) that describes the “Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Prosecution Improvements Act of 1986” as Part IV of a larger bill, but the snippet in the provided results does not display the sponsor name or the bill’s introductory senator [3]. The House bill (H.R.5484) likewise contains the maritime subtitle but the excerpted record lacks the individual sponsor listing in these search results [4]. Therefore, available sources do not mention the specific senators who sponsored or cosponsored the 1986 MDLEA language.
3. How one would reliably find sponsor names (and why Congress.gov matters)
To answer the original query definitively, the authoritative route is to consult full bill pages and legislative history on Congress.gov or the Congressional Record for the 99th Congress, or the statutory enactment language in the Statutes at Large which include the bill sponsor and legislative history. The provided Congress.gov pages reference the relevant bills (S.2850, H.R.5484) that hosted the maritime provisions, demonstrating the correct research trail, but the excerpts here omit sponsor metadata [3][4]. In short: the necessary details likely exist in the linked Congress.gov entries or the Statutes at Large, but they are not present in the snippets supplied.
4. Conflicting interpretations and legal context in the sources
The MDLEA has been repeatedly analyzed and litigated for its extraterritorial reach. Scholarly commentary and case notes argue the statute extends U.S. jurisdiction far beyond traditional maritime boundaries and has raised constitutional questions; recent law review pieces and appellate rulings critique its lack of a nexus requirement to the United States [5][6]. That litigation history explains why knowing the original sponsors might matter to scholars tracing legislative intent, but none of the supplied excerpts link back to sponsor statements or floor debates [5][6].
5. Bottom line and recommended next steps for verification
Based on the provided documents, I cannot name the senator who sponsored or cosponsored the 1986 MDLEA text because the available search results do not include sponsor information (not found in current reporting). For a definitive answer, consult the full Congress.gov bill pages for S.2850 (99th Congress) and H.R.5484 or the Statutes at Large/ Congressional Record entries for Pub. L. 99–640; those full records contain sponsor listings and committee reports that will identify the senator responsible [3][4][1].