"Maduro was captured Saturday, 36 years to the day after Noriega was removed by American forces. And as was the case with the Panamanian leader, lawyers for Maduro are expected to contest the legality of his arrest, arguing that he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of foreign state, which is a bedrock principle of international and U.S. law."
"It's an argument that is unlikely to succeed and was largely settled as a matter of law in Noriega's trial, legal experts said. Although Trump's ordering of the operation in Venezuela raises constitutional concerns because it wasn't authorized by Congress, now that Maduro is in the U.S., courts will likely bless his prosecution because, like Noriega, the U.S. doesn't recognize him as Venezuela's legitimate leader."
"Noriega died in 2017 after nearly three decades in prison, first in the U.S., then France and finally Panama. In his first trial, his lawyers argued that his arrest as a result of a U.S. invasion was so "shocking to the conscience" that it rendered the government's case an illegal violation of his due process rights."
Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro faces U.S. drug charges after capture and will appear in a New York courtroom. Defense lawyers are expected to assert sovereign immunity as a former head of state. Legal precedent from Manuel Noriega's trial, however, undercuts such immunity claims when the United States does not recognize the defendant as a legitimate head of state. Constitutional concerns about the operation's authorization exist, but courts are likely to allow prosecution. Noriega's case included arguments that his forcible removal violated due process; Noriega later died after nearly thirty years of imprisonment.
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