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« Memogate II items | Main | Best blog post title » March 29, 2005Bush and international lawLast year the International Court of Justice (ICJ) "ordered the United States" to provide 51 Mexcan nationals on death row "effective review" of each case under the Vienna Convention. Texas never notified Medellin that Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (to which the U.S. is a party) entitled him to legal assistance from the Mexican consul, and the Mexican consular authorities were not made aware of his arrest, trial, or sentence until six weeks after his death sentence was affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The state of Texas, where the defendants were held, disagreed, largely because of the defendants' failure to invoke the defense until four years of trial had passed. The Fifth Circuit was unpersuaded by the ICJ as well because the Vienna Convention concerned relations between governments, and did not create an "individually enforceable right" for criminal defendants. Although Bush initially agreed with the Fifth Circuit's conclusion in its brief earlier this month, he nevertheless changed course and decided to comply with the ICJ's decision "as an exercise of his 'constitutionally based foreign affairs power,' by directing the state courts to give the new hearings that the ruling required." Bush told Texas to give the Mexican nationals new hearings and told the Supreme Court to butt out. Then, right after agreeing to abide by the ICJ, Bush withdrew the US from its jurisdiction. Therefore Bush has turned federalism on its head by hoisting international law over both federal and state courts, then simultaneously preventing it from ever happening again by shunning international jurisdiction. In essence he pulled off a hat trick that's destined to upset officials at each level. Here are briefs for the case currently before the Supreme Court in Medellin v. Dretke, No. 04-5928. Now You Know writes, "If only Terri Schiavo were an illegal alien criminal." Others covering the story include: Ex Post, The Urban Grind, and the always-necessary SCOTUSblog. Posted by Joshua Claybourn at March 29, 2005 12:00 AM CommentsIt is a false statement that lawyers are not the oldest profession. It is of the essence of that profession to make assertations that cannot be challenged during a trial. These are then called legal fictions in the profession, lies they are called outside it. The growth of the profession in numbers and influence stems from this distance from truth which is much applauded by the Angel that is their guardian. We now read where the Bible cannot be used to reach decisions on capital punishment in Colorado even though their Constitution requires explicitly that jurors in capital cases consult a moral compass. Of course, SC "jurists" (quacks, outside the profession)may consult with astrologers, foreign courts, paid for in advance studies in sociology, Masons, etc. with no need at all to refer to the US Constitution. Posted by: Anonymous at March 29, 2005 08:13 AM | permalink |
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