Mexico has returned to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in seek­ing a stay of exe­cu­tion for Mexican-born inmates in the U.S. Mexico request­ed the U.N.‘s high­est court, com­mon­ly referred to as the World Court, to inter­vene because the United States has failed to com­ply with an ear­li­er ICJ judg­ment order­ing a review of the tri­als of the Mexican cit­i­zens. The World Court ruled in 2004 that the U.S. vio­lat­ed the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations because it had not pro­vid­ed the Mexican inmates access to their home country’s con­sular offi­cials pri­or to their tri­als.

The ICJ held that the con­vic­tions and death sen­tences of these death row inmates required fur­ther review. President Bush acknowl­edged the judg­ment of the ICJ and ordered state courts to review the cas­es. Texas, how­ev­er, refused, and the issue of the President’s pow­er went to the U.S. Supreme Court. Jose Medellin, a death row inmate and Mexican cit­i­zen, appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to enforce the ICJ’s rul­ing. The Supreme Court reject­ed the appeal on March 25, stat­ing that Bush had over­stepped his author­i­ty. The major­i­ty opin­ion stat­ed that the Constitution, ​“allows the President to exe­cute the laws, not make them.” The World Court will soon con­vene to weigh Mexico’s request to halt the executions. 

(A. Max, ​“Mexico asks World Court to stay exe­cu­tions in US,” L.A. Times, June 5, 2008). See International and Foreign Nationals.

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