Supreme Court Overrides Furer Bush Intrusion into Texas Soverignty

High court backs Texas in dispute over Mexican death row prisoner

By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press Writer


"WASHINGTON — President Bush overstepped his authority when he ordered
a Texas court to reopen the case of a Mexican on death row for rape
and murder, the Supreme Court said Tuesday.


In a case that mixes presidential power, international relations and
the death penalty, the court sided with Texas and rebuked Bush by a
6-3 vote.


The president was in the unusual position of siding with death row
prisoner Jose Ernesto Medellin, a Mexican citizen whom police
prevented from consulting with Mexican diplomats, as provided by
international treaty.


An international court ruled in 2004 that the convictions of Medellin
and 50 other Mexicans on death row around the United States violated
the 1963 Vienna Convention, which provides that people arrested abroad
should have access to their home country's consular officials. The
International Court of Justice, also known as the world court, said
the Mexican prisoners should have new court hearings to determine
whether the violation affected their cases.


Bush, who oversaw 152 executions as Texas governor, disagreed with the
decision. But he said it must be carried out by state courts because
the United States had agreed to abide by the world court's rulings in
such cases. The administration argued that the president's declaration
is reason enough for Texas to grant Medellin a new hearing.


Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, disagreed.
Roberts said the international court decision cannot be forced upon
the states.


The president may not "establish binding rules of decision that
pre-empt contrary state law," Roberts said. Neither does the treaty,
by itself, require individual states to take action, he said.


Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter
dissented.


The international court judgment should be enforced, Breyer wrote.
"The nation may well break its word even though the president seeks to
live up to that word," he said.


Justice John Paul Stevens, while agreeing with the outcome of the
case, said nothing prevents Texas from giving Medellin another hearing
even though it is not compelled to do so.


"Texas' duty in this respect is all the greater since it was Texas
that — by failing to provide consular notice in accordance with the
Vienna Convention — ensnared the United States in the current
controversy," Stevens said.


Medellin was arrested a few days after the killings of Jennifer
Ertman, 14, and Elizabeth Pena, 16, in Houston in June 1993. He was
told he had a right to remain silent and have a lawyer present, but
the police did not tell him that he could request assistance from the
Mexican consulate.


Medellin, who speaks, reads and writes English, gave a written
confession. He was convicted of murder in the course of a sexual
assault, a capital offense in Texas. A judge sentenced him to death in
October 1994.


Texas acknowledged that Medellin was not told he could ask for help
from Mexican diplomats, but argued that he forfeited the right because
he never raised the issue at trial or sentencing. In any case, the
state said, the diplomats' intercession would not have made any
difference in the outcome of the case.


State and federal courts rejected Medellin's claim when he raised it
on appeal.


Then, in 2003, Mexico sued the United States in the International
Court of Justice in The Hague on behalf of Medellin and 50 other
Mexicans on death row in the U.S. who also had been denied access to
their country's diplomats following their arrests.


Roe Wilson, a Harris County assistant district attorney who handles
capital case appeals, applauded the Supreme Court decision. "This case
has been in the court system a long time based on various issues, "
said Wilson, whose office prosecuted Medellin. "It was a heinous
murder of two young girls who were only 14 and 16. It's certainly time
the case be resolved and the sentence be carried out."


Medellin, who was 18 at the time of the slayings, turned 33 earlier
this month. He's now out of appeals and Wilson said her office will
ask for an execution date once the Supreme Court resolves a separate
case challenging lethal injections.


Mexico has no death penalty. Mexico and other opponents of capital
punishment have sought to use the world court to fight for foreigners
facing execution in the U.S.


Forty-four Mexican prisoners affected by the decision remain on death
row around the country, including 14 in Texas. One Mexican inmate
formerly facing execution now is imprisoned for life because of the
Supreme Court decision outlawing capital punishment for anyone under
18 at the time the crime was committed.


Bush has since said the United States will no longer allow the World
Court to judge the consular access cases because of how death penalty
opponents have tried to use the international tribunal.


The case is Medellin v. Texas, 06-984. "