1. This case presents an important question regarding a criminal defendant's right to a jury trial guaranteed by the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the United States Constitution: whether a court may conclusively determine through judicial notice that the government has satisfied its burden to prove that the physical location where an alleged crime took place is within the "special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States" when that is an essential jurisdictional element of the offense, or whether that question must instead be submitted to a jury and proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Whether a court may conclusively determine through judicial notice that the government has satisfied its burden to prove an essential jurisdictional element of a criminal offense, or whether that element must be submitted to a jury and proven beyond a reasonable doubt