The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Medellin v. Texas, a case that will deter­mine whether dozens of Mexican for­eign nation­als on death row in the U.S. are enti­tled to a new hear­ing because they were denied their right to seek con­sular assis­tance upon their arrest. The Bush admin­is­tra­tion and the Mexican gov­ern­ment both urged the Justices to take the case after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to com­ply with President Bush’s order to state courts to review the cas­es of the 50 Mexican for­eign nation­als who had been denied their rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The Bush admin­is­tra­tion’s brief not­ed that the Texas court’s deci­sion, if not reversed, ​“will place the United States in breach of its inter­na­tion­al law oblig­a­tion” to com­ply with the World Court’s deci­sion and would ​“frus­trate the pres­i­den­t’s judg­ment that for­eign pol­i­cy inter­ests are best served by giv­ing effect to that decision.”

Jose Medellin is a Mexican cit­i­zen who has been on Texas’ death row since 1993. This is the sec­ond time his case has come before the U.S. Supreme Court. After the ICJ rul­ing in 2004, Texas refused to review Medellin’s case, and he peti­tioned the U.S. Supreme Court for relief. The Court agreed to hear his case, but before it could be decid­ed, President Bush ordered the respec­tive state courts to pro­vide the review required by the ICJ. The Supreme Court then dis­missed Medellin’s case to allow states time for this review. When Texas courts again refused to grant such a review, claim­ing that President Bush did not have the pow­er to give such an order, Medellin appealed to the Supreme Court for a sec­ond time. In April 2007, the Justices grant­ed cer­tio­rari and will hear the case this com­ing fall. The Court has been asked to con­sid­er whether President Bush over­stepped his author­i­ty to order state review of the cas­es and whether state courts are required to com­ply with the ICJ’s rul­ing.
(Medellin v. Texas, No. 06 – 984; see N.Y. Times, May 1, 2007 and Bloomberg News, April 30, 2007). See U.S. Supreme Court and Foreign Nationals.

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