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Commentary on Medellin v. Texas

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Let's start with FindLaw.com columnist Edward Lazarus' must-read commentary, "A Recent Supreme Court Decision on the Vienna Convention Reaffirms that Justice Stevens, at Eighty-Eight, Remains A Force to Be Reckoned With."The issue presented in Medellin was double-barreled. First, given that the U.S. is a signatory to the Vienna Convention and to the United Nations Charter (in which each member agrees to "undertake[] to comply" with ICJ decisions), are U.S. state courts bound to give effect to the ICJ's Avena decision? Second, even if the state courts were not bound directly by Avena, were they bound to comply with Bush's Memorandum specifically directing them to comply with Avena? Although Medellin was argued without much fanfare, it required the Justices to come to terms with some very tricky and important ideological cross-currents...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on March 27, 2008 (boomark / email).