President's Ironic Role in Supreme Court’s ‘Don’t Mess With Texas’ Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision yesterday limiting the reach of international treaties pitted Texas state courts against President Bush and the International Court of Justice.
The state courts were victorious when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a decision of the international court wasn’t binding, even though President Bush had ordered Texas courts to carry it out.
The international court, also known as the World Court, had ruled that a Texas death row inmate from Mexico should have been told of his right under the Vienna Convention to consult with Mexican consular officials. The international court called for new hearings for Medellin and 50 other Mexican nationals on death row who were not advised of that right.
The Washington Post noted the wide-ranging issues addressed by the court. It said the decision “involved the powers of all three branches of government, the intricacies of treaties and the international debate over the death penalty.”
The Post said Bush asked Texas courts to carry out the decision even though he disagreed with it. Bush has since withdrawn the United States from the international court’s jurisdiction over future Vienna Convention issues, the New York Times reports in its coverage of the case.
Legal Times notes the ironies. Texas opposed Bush, once the state’s governor, and Chief Justice John G. Roberts, appointed by Bush, wrote the opinion thwarting his power. And the decision “oddly enough, allows Bush to portray himself as an internationalist who wanted to meet treaty obligations but was thwarted by a Supreme Court intent on reining in executive power.”
