If you are ever arrested in a foreign country, maybe they will let you talk to the US embassy

[RB TexLa]

maybe they won't.



Texas defies World Court, executes condemned Mexican


26 minutes ago



DALLAS (Reuters) - Texas defied the World Court and executed a Mexican national by lethal injection on Tuesday over the objections of the international judicial body and neighboring Mexico.

Jose Medellin, 33, was pronounced dead at 9:57 p.m. CDT (10:57 p.m. EDT), the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said in a statement. He had been condemned for the 1993 rape and murder of 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena in Houston and late on Tuesday night lost his last-ditch bid to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay.

The World Court last month ordered the U.S. government to "take all measures necessary" to halt the upcoming execution of five Mexicans including Medellin on the grounds that they had been deprived of their right to consular services after their arrests.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080806/ts_nm/usa_mexico_execution_dc_1

[CrazyDude]

1. Good, Bush attempted to use this case not to protect Medellin, but to expand executive power

Congress speaks for the US, not the President.

[Mojorabbit]

2. I thought we were signatory

to a treaty re this.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Yes,,, and bush doesn't care

The consequences will be severe... and you can bet it will start in the coming spring break... if I were a US College Student... I'd avoid the border right now.

[Hippo_Tron]

5. I remember discussing this case with someone a month ago

She was convinced that Bush was actually intent on upholding the treaty. I told her there wasn't a chance in hell. If Bush really cared, he could've pulled a few strings in Texas and there would have been no execution. He and Poppy have raised god knows how much money for basically every Republican in the state government there.

[CrazyDude]

4. We had pulled out of compulsory jurisdiction in 1985

by Reagan. Thus, the only jurisdiction still remaining was the optional protocol, which essentially meant the US could choose to enforce the ICJ judgement if it felt like it. What the Supreme Court said, and what I agree with in principle, is that the US Congress, and not the President, determines if we exercise our option per the optional protocol on behalf of the United States.

While I wish Reagan had not withdrawn from compulsory jurisdiction and Bush II had not withdrawn from the Optional Protocol in 2005, the majority opinion was well reasoned and the broader point was that it curtailed the power of the executive branch. Bush could care less if Medellin was executed; he just wanted to expand the powers of the Imperial Presidency. The problem is the "liberal" wing usually assists him in that (see medical marijuana cases).

[Hippo_Tron]

6. Medical marijuana was about federal vs state authority...

Not about executive vs congressional authority. The liberals on the Supreme Court are the ones keeping Bush in check with executive power over detainees and surveillance. The liberals in Congress not so much, but that's a different story.

And I really don't see how this is really about an expansion of Bush's power nor do I think he cared about it. If he really wanted to stop Medellin's execution all it would've taken was a few phone calls. Most of the Republicans in that state owe their election in some way or another to either him or Poppy or somebody else that is a friend of the Bush family.

This is a case of a bunch of rednecks who don't believe in international law and a President who could've done something about it but chose to let the rednecks have their way.

[CrazyDude]

8. Fair point

The detainee habeas corpus cases were more executive v. judicial though I would contend, and you're right in those cases the conservative minority got it wrong. However, keep in mind John Stevens sided with Scalia and Thomas in Hamdi and that 8 of the 9 justices supported due process of some kind for the detainees. Yet, in 2006, Hamdan was probably the first case where the conservative minority sided in unison in the dissent, with the exception of Roberts recusal, and Boumediene clearly had the conservative minority in dissent.

[XOKCowboy]

7. Texas has such a great record for executing the "guilty"..

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16710829/

DALLAS - In a case that has renewed questions about the quality of Texas justice, a man who spent 10 years behind bars for the rape of a boy has become the 12th person in Dallas County to be cleared by DNA evidence.

[CrazyDude]

9. There's no doubt Medellin was guitly

He confessed and never retracted that confession.