I find it fascinating that the precedent for the decision -- to vacate charges due to improper venue -- is established by the court by going all the way back to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

The proper place of colonial trials was so important to the founding generation that it was listed as a grievance in the Declaration of Independence. See The Declaration of Independence para. 21 (U.S. 1776) (objecting to “transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences”). It was of such concern that the Constitution of the United States “twice safeguards the defendant’s venue right.” United States v. Cabrales, 524 U.S. 1, 6 (1998). Article III requires that “the Trial of all Crimes . . . shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed.” U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 3. The Sixth Amendment further provides that “[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.”