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No surprises from the Court: Medellin v. Texas

By Karl R. Keys, Esq.

In an opinion authored by Chief Justice Roberts the Supreme Court holds that the State of Texas need not always follow the direction of the President of the United States when it comes to enforcement of international law. Background here. The opinion in Medellin v. Texas is here. These are my first thoughts, which, somehow ended up getting “unpublished” as a draft rather than as an actual blog post earlier today. Be forewarned, Medellin isn’t light reading. Specifically, the Court holds that neither the World Court’s judgment in the Avena litigation (holding Vienna Convention claims must be honored by the courts of signatory nations) nor the President?s Memorandum directing Texas to provide a forum for Avena related claims constitute directly enforceable federal law that pre-empts state limitations on the filing of successive habeas petitions...continue to full post

Full post as published by Capital Defense Weekly on March 25, 2008 (boomark / email).