
In the past, Leahy has said that supports the so-called Pirate Act because "Federal prosecutors have been hindered in their pursuit of pirates by the fact that they were Limited to bringing criminal charges with high burdens of proof." In other words, he doesn't want Federal prosecuters hindered by that pesky "reasonable doubt" provision in U.S. criminal law, and would like them to start operating under the much loser "preponderance of evidence," which only requires that juries in civil cases be reasonably sure of their conclusions.
Source: Cnet News