The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rebuffed President Bushs order that Texas courts review the cas­es of Mexican for­eign nation­als who were sen­tenced to death with­out the ben­e­fit of their rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Writing for the court, Judge Michael Keasler, stat­ed: We hold that the President has exceed­ed his con­sti­tu­tion­al author­i­ty by intrud­ing into the inde­pen­dent pow­ers of the judi­cia­ry.” Judge Sharon Keller con­curred, writ­ing: this unprece­dent­ed, unnnec­es­sary, and intru­sive exer­cise of pow­er over the Texas court sys­tem can­not be sup­port­ed by the for­eign pol­i­cy author­i­ty con­ferred on him by the United States Constitution.”

In 2004, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that 51 Mexican cit­i­zens who were on death row in the U.S. were enti­tled to a review of their con­vic­tions and sen­tences in light of the fact that they were not informed of their right to speak to their con­sular offi­cials at the time of their arrest, as guar­an­teed under the Vienna Convention. While one of these cas­es, that of Jose Ernesto Medellin, was mak­ing its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, President Bush issued a mem­o­ran­dum to the Justice Department order­ing that state courts abide by the deci­sion of the International Court. The U.S. State Department also announced that, for future cas­es, the U.S. was with­draw­ing from the agree­ment that gave the International Court juris­dic­tion in the case of the 51 Mexican citizens.

After ini­tial­ly agree­ing to hear Medellin’s case, the U.S. Supreme Court dis­missed it because the President’s order could resolve Medellin’s request for fur­ther review. In light of the Texas court’s asser­tion that the President lacked the pow­er to direct such a review, the case may go back to the Supreme Court.
(N.Y. Times, Nov. 16, 2006). Read the Texas opin­ion. See Foreign Nationals and Supreme Court.

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