WASHINGTON — Rebuffing President Bush's assertion of his power over foreign affairs, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Texas and other states need not provide new hearings to Mexican citizens on death row who were not told they could obtain consular help when arrested.
The court spurned an appeal by Jose Medellin, who was sentenced to die for the 1993 rape and strangling of two teenage girls who stumbled into a gang initiation in Texas as they walked home from a friend's house.
By a 6-3 vote, the court said that neither a 2004 decision by the International Court of Justice nor a memorandum by President Bush overrides Texas authority to deny Medellin another hearing. The International Court of Justice had ruled in 2004 that Medellin and 50 other Mexican nationals on state death rows deserved review of their cases because they had not been advised of their consular rights under the Vienna Convention.
Bush had issued a memorandum declaring that states had to abide by the decision.
In Tuesday's decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the high court sternly rejected Bush's view that U.S. compliance with IJC decisions rests with the executive branch. The court said the president may not "pre-empt" state law.
Roberts said ICJ's decision interpreting the United States' obligation under the Vienna Convention constitutes an international law obligation. But he stressed, "Not all international law obligations automatically constitute binding federal law enforceable in United States courts."
The court said the president could not, without action by Congress, enforce the IJC judgment on the states.
Donald Francis Donovan, a lawyer for Medellin, said in a statement that he was disappointed with the high court's ruling but noted that the justices said Congress could act to ensure enforcement of the ICJ decision. There was no immediate reaction from the Bush administration.
Because of the international implications and because the case pit Bush against his home state of Texas, the dispute of Medellin v. Texas had been closely watched. Nine states that use capital punishment have Mexican nationals on the death rows; Texas has the most: 15 Mexican nationals.
Medellin did not raise his claim related to his Vienna Convention rights until after his conviction and sentence had become final. Texas judges said he was barred from raising it in later appeals. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals had ruled most recently that neither the 2004 ICJ decision nor Bush's memo was binding federal law that could override state rules.
After Medellin appealed to the Supreme Court, supported by Bush's memo interpreting the ICJ ruling, Texas officials said Bush's directive infringed on state power. They said if the president wanted the states to comply with the ruling he should have gone to Congress for legislation.
Joining Roberts in siding with Texas were Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. Justice John Paul Stevens concurred in the bottom-line judgment against Medellin. Disenting were Justices Stephen Breyer, David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
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