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On Monday morning, a shackled, jumpsuit-clad Nicholas Maduro stepped off a military helicopter in Manhattan, accompanied by heavily armed officers.

The leader of Venezuela had remained in a notorious federal jail in Brooklyn, before authorities transported him to a Manhattan courthouse to answer to indictments.

The top prosecutor has said Maduro was brought to the US to "answer for his alleged crimes".

But jurisprudence authorities doubt the legality of the government's actions, and argue the US may have violated international statutes regulating the use of force. Within the United States, however, the US's actions fall into a unclear legal territory that may still lead to Maduro being tried, regardless of the circumstances that delivered him.

The US insists its actions were legally justified. The executive branch has accused Maduro of "drug-funded terrorism" and facilitating the transport of "thousands of tonnes" of cocaine to the US.

"The entire team conducted themselves by the book, firmly, and in full compliance with US law and established protocols," the Attorney General said in a release.

Maduro has repeatedly refuted US claims that he manages an illegal drug operation, and in the courtroom in New York on Monday he entered a plea of innocent.

International Law and Action Concerns

While the charges are centered on drugs, the US pursuit of Maduro comes after years of condemnation of his governance of Venezuela from the United Nations and allies.

In 2020, UN investigators said Maduro's government had committed "egregious violations" that were international crimes - and that the president and other high-ranking members were implicated. The US and some of its partners have also accused Maduro of manipulating votes, and withheld recognition of him as the rightful leader.

Maduro's claimed ties with criminal syndicates are the focus of this indictment, yet the US tactics in putting him before a US judge to answer these charges are also under scrutiny.

Conducting a covert action in Venezuela and taking Maduro out of the country secretly was "entirely unlawful under global statutes," said a expert at a university.

Scholars highlighted a series of problems raised by the US mission.

The UN Charter forbids members from armed aggression against other states. It permits "self-defence if an armed attack occurs" but that danger must be looming, professors said. The other allowance occurs when the UN Security Council sanctions such an action, which the US did not obtain before it took action in Venezuela.

Global jurisprudence would consider the illicit narcotics allegations the US alleges against Maduro to be a criminal justice issue, authorities contend, not a violent attack that might justify one country to take military action against another.

In public statements, the government has framed the mission as, in the words of the top diplomat, "primarily a police action", rather than an act of war.

Historical Parallels and Domestic Legal Debate

Maduro has been formally charged on drug trafficking charges in the US since 2020; the justice department has now issued a updated - or new - indictment against the Venezuelan leader. The administration essentially says it is now enforcing it.

"The operation was conducted to support an active legal case tied to widespread narcotics trafficking and connected charges that have spurred conflict, created regional instability, and exacerbated the drug crisis killing US citizens," the Attorney General said in her statement.

But since the apprehension, several jurists have said the US broke global norms by taking Maduro out of Venezuela unilaterally.

"One nation cannot go into another sovereign nation and detain individuals," said an professor of international criminal law. "If the US wants to apprehend someone in another country, the established method to do that is a formal request."

Even if an person faces indictment in America, "The US has no legal standing to operate internationally serving an arrest warrant in the jurisdiction of other independent nations," she said.

Maduro's attorneys in the Manhattan courtroom on Monday said they would contest the legality of the US action which transported him from Caracas to New York.

There's also a persistent scholarly argument about whether commanders-in-chief must comply with the UN Charter. The US Constitution views treaties the country signs to be the "highest law in the nation".

But there's a well-known case of a presidential administration contending it did not have to comply with the charter.

In 1989, the George HW Bush administration removed Panama's military leader Manuel Noriega and brought him to the US to face illicit narcotics accusations.

An internal Justice Department memo from the time contended that the president had the constitutional power to order the FBI to apprehend individuals who flouted US law, "regardless of whether those actions breach customary international law" - including the UN Charter.

The draftsman of that document, William Barr, later served as the US AG and filed the first 2020 charges against Maduro.

However, the memo's rationale later came under criticism from jurists. US the judiciary have not made a definitive judgment on the matter.

Domestic Executive Authority and Legal Control

In the US, the question of whether this operation transgressed any domestic laws is complex.

The US Constitution gives Congress the power to commence hostilities, but puts the president in command of the military.

A Nixon-era law called the War Powers Resolution establishes limits on the president's authority to use armed force. It requires the president to consult Congress before sending US troops overseas "to the greatest extent practicable," and inform Congress within 48 hours of deploying forces.

The government did not give Congress a prior warning before the action in Venezuela "due to operational security concerns," a top official said.

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