On July 1, the Administration of President Barack Obama joined for­mer gov­ern­ment offi­cials and nation­al orga­ni­za­tions inter­ven­ing in the case of Texas death row inmate Humberto Leal Garcia. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to delay Leal’s exe­cu­tion sched­uled for July 7. The Solicitor General wrote that Leal’s exe­cu­tion ​“would place the United States in irrepara­ble breach of its inter­na­tion­al-law oblig­a­tion to afford (Leal) review and recon­sid­er­a­tion of his claim that his con­vic­tion and sen­tence were prej­u­diced by Texas author­i­ties’ fail­ure to pro­vide con­sular noti­fi­ca­tion and assis­tance under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.” In a 30-page brief, the Administration also stat­ed that com­ply­ing with oblig­a­tions to ​“noti­fy con­suls in such cas­es would serve U.S. inter­ests as well as those of the con­demned man,” includ­ing ​“pro­tect­ing Americans abroad, fos­ter­ing coop­er­a­tion with for­eign nations, and demon­strat­ing respect for the inter­na­tion­al rule of law.” The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has also writ­ten a let­ter to Texas Governor Rick Perry, ask­ing the gov­er­nor to com­mute Leal’s sen­tence to life in prison.

(“Obama and U.N. seek delay in exe­cu­tion of Mexican nation­al,” CNN​.com, July 2, 2011). See gen­er­al­ly Foreign Nationals. For more infor­ma­tion about Leal’s case, see Humberto Leal Garcia (press release regard­ing for­mer diplo­mats, mil­i­tary lead­ers, and oth­ers request­ing a stay). UPDATE: Leal was exe­cut­ed on July 7. The Supreme Court denied a stay by a vote of 5 – 4.

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