Posted on 06/21/2008 7:26:43 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
The Bush administration's "extraordinary" effort to comply with an international court order granting new hearings for 51 Mexican nationals on death row has been stymied by federal laws, U.S. State Department lawyers said Friday.
"The issue of capital punishment arouses deep feelings," said State Department legal adviser John B. Bellinger III, according to transcripts filed with the court. "But this is not about the death penalty."
Bellinger told the International Court of Justice -- the principal judicial organ of the United Nations -- that while the administration understands its obligation to abide by the court's rulings, current U.S. law does not require individual states to follow suit.
His arguments came during the second day of hearings at The Hague in a case that has aggravated relations between the nation and its southern neighbor and put the president in a tight spot with the state he calls home.
In 2003, the world court ordered the United States to grant new reviews for the Mexicans after finding that local law enforcement had not told the men about their right to contact their consulates after their arrests.
But Mexico returned to the panel this week saying officials in the United States had not done enough to ensure those hearings happened.
Texas, in particular, seems to be willfully disregarding the international court by setting an Aug. 5 execution date for one of the men -- Jose Ernesto Medellin.
The state's courts could schedule executions for four others -- including two sentenced to die for crimes committed in Hidalgo County -- before the end of the summer, said Joel Antonio Hernandez Garcia, legal adviser to Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
But when arguing before the court Friday, Hernandez was careful to point out that his country is only asking for new hearings to determine whether the lack of consular involvement may have affected the outcome of their trials.
"Nowhere are (we) requesting Texas refrain from executing Mr. Medellin," he said. "Nowhere does it ask the governor to grant a reprieve."
In March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that under current federal law, individual states are under no obligation to obey international treaties -- such as the one establishing the international court's jurisdiction. And while Congress could pass legislation that would force the states to obey, it has not done so yet.
Still, U.S. officials continue to negotiate with Texas in an effort to ensure compliance, Bellinger said.
The State and Justice departments urged Gov. Rick Perry last week to grant the court-ordered reviews and floated the idea of a panel of outside judges who could review the Mexicans' cases and make recommendations to Texas' clemency board.
The Bush administration has also asked the state to hold off on Medellin's execution until the matter is resolved.
"The president is a former governor of Texas and that made it politically difficult for him to order his former state" to deviate from its regular judicial procedure, Bellinger said. "Especially (in a case involving) a confessed murderer and rapist of two young girls."
After proceedings ended Friday, court staff said the justices were sensitive to the need to act quickly and would decide whether to issue an injunction soon. But they could not project when their decision might be forthcoming.
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Jeremy Roebuck covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4437.
George....go home. Go back to Connecticut.
Everything out of the government's mouth should start with THAT fact.
Mexican murderers just getting the break American murderers don’t.
Never underestimate the lengths at which DOS and DOJ will go to undermine both National sovereignty and States' rights.
And where's the "extraordinary effort" to mediate on behalf of the American people against the continuing onslaught of illegal invaders pouring across our borders? Hmmmm?
Legacy, my nether end.
Leni
Hang the bastard.
And where in the hell is the “extraordinary effort” to end the persecution of marines for the phoney Haditha nonsense? The left is right about one thing...Bush is damned stupid.
Medellin was sentenced to death in October 1994.
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
We have a Federal Bench, there is no need to be concerned one iota what an America hater in the Hague thinks..
This is straight-up-and-down an issue of a State enforcing its own criminal code, versus the federal government enforcing a treaty obligation. It doesn't help to mischaracterize it.
Leni
The globalist author of this article clearly could not care less what crimes Medellin committed which resulted in his death sentence.
Leni
Well, that treaty should never had been signed and ratified, and we should not be sending DOS lawyers to argue before it. That was the basis for my comment about sovereignty, since the fact that a court such as the ICJ exists and the U.S. government is technically bound by its decisions. Sounds like a slippery slope to me.
If the Mexicans don’t want to be subject to our laws, they should stay home.
Americans be g_d-damned! He's got the interests of his own elite leisured class to think about.
Unless you know something that I don’t know, this is not a “bound by ICJ” issue. I thought it’s a 1967 Vienna Convention issue.
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