Medellin execution allowed...

[TreasonousBastard]

Treaties be damned again, and this isn't the first time the Supremes have ruled on treaties vs. US law. It is again 5-4, and there's little guessing who was who.

Texas, alone among the states with the death penalty, has held out for executing Mexicans who haven't been aprised of their rights. All other states, AFIK, have held moratoriums on executions of Mexicans who haven't contacted their embassy or consulate.


UPDATE: Medellin execution allowed
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 11:31 am | Lyle Denniston
FINAL UPDATE 10:20 p.m.

Splitting 5-4, the Supreme Court refused Tuesday night to delay the execution in Texas of Mexican national Jose Ernesto Medellin. The majority’s unsigned opinion, and dissents by each of the other four Justices, can be read here.

The majority said that the chance that Congress or the Texas legislature would act to provide a remedy for the treaty violation in Medellin’s case was “too remote” to justify delaying the execution. The majority’s Per Curiam (”By the Court”) relied in part on the fact that the Justice Department had not opted to take any part in this latest round of the Medellin case, even though it was actively involved when the Court last ruled on it on March 25.

“The Department of Justice,” the majority said, “is well aware of these proceedings and has not chosen to seek our intervention. Its silence is no surprise. The United States has not wavered in its position that was not prejudiced by his lack of consular access .”

While noting again, as it had in March, that it was up to Congress to make the Vienna Convention binding law within the U.S., the majority said that “Congress has not progressed beyond the bare introduction of a bill in the four years since the ruling and the four months since our ruling in Medellin v. Texas. This inaction is consistent with the United States’ decision in 2005 to withdraw the Untied States’ access to jurisdiction of the with regard to matters arising under the Convention.”

http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Texas loves a good kill'n. They have more than their share of mass murders

anyway.