On March 25, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6 – 3 in Medellin v. Texas (No. 06 – 984) that the President does not have the author­i­ty to order states to bypass their pro­ce­dur­al rules and com­ply with a rul­ing from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The case arose from an appeal by Jose Medellin, a Mexican cit­i­zen on Texas’ death row who, along with 50 oth­er Mexican death row inmates, filed suit in the ICJ alleg­ing a vio­la­tion of their rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The Vienna Convention is an inter­na­tion­al treaty, rat­i­fied by the U.S., that gives for­eign nation­als who are accused of a crime the right to con­tact the con­sulate of their home coun­try. Medellin and the oth­er Mexicans were not informed of this right, and the ICJ ruled in their favor, order­ing U.S. courts to review their cas­es, regard­less of any pro­ce­dur­al rules that stood in the way. (Avena and Other Mexican Nationals — Mexico v. U.S. (2004)).

However, Texas refused to review Medellin’s case, and he peti­tioned the U.S. Supreme Court for relief. Before the case could be decid­ed, President Bush ordered the respec­tive state courts to pro­vide the review required by the ICJ. The U.S. Supreme Court then dis­missed Medellin’s case to allow time for this review. Texas courts again refused to grant such a review, claim­ing that President Bush did not have the pow­er to require this action of the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court took Medellin’s renewed appeal but agreed with the Texas courts in this most recent deci­sion, stat­ing that the Vienna Convention was not ​“self-exe­cut­ing” and Congress would have to make the treaty bind­ing in the U.S. courts. Furthermore, the Court held that the rul­ings of the ICJ are not bind­ing on U.S. states when they con­tra­dict the states’ crim­i­nal pro­ce­dures.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writ­ing for Justices Samuel Alito, Jr., Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, authored the major­i­ty opin­ion. Justice John Paul Stevens con­curred in the result, writ­ing sep­a­rate­ly. Justice Stephen Breyer dis­sent­ed, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter.
(“States win over President on crim­i­nal law issue,” by Lyle Denniston, SCOTUS Blog, March 25, 2008). See Foreign Nationals and U.S. Supreme Court.

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