Bush, Texas at odds over death case

[onehandle]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - To put it bluntly, Texas wants President Bush to get out of the way of the state's plan to execute a Mexican for the brutal killing of two teenage girls.

Bush, who presided over 152 executions as governor of Texas, wants to halt the execution of Jose Ernesto Medellin in what has become a confusing test of presidential power that the Supreme Court, which hears the case this week, ultimately will sort out.

The president wants to enforce a decision by the International Court of Justice that found the convictions of Medellin and 50 other Mexican-born prisoners violated their rights to legal help as outlined in the 1963 Vienna Convention.

That is the same court Bush has since said he plans to ignore if it makes similar decisions affecting state criminal laws.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071007/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_mexican_national

[Turbineguy]

1. Bush halting an execution?

What's the world coming to?

Oh wait, I know, Bush needs people to practice interrogation techniques on.

[Yael]

2. The hispanic vote in 2008. Thats what.

[Thor_MN]

3. That ranks up there with Flying Pigs and Snowball fights in Hell

[UpInArms]

4. Irony is dead. Long live irony!

oh that quaint document!

That is the same court Bush has since said he plans to ignore if it makes similar decisions affecting state criminal laws.

The US does not torture! wink wink nudge nudge smirk smirk!

[flashl]

5. Texas, Texas, Texas

Texas is the state where the Supreme Court had to halt the execution of Delma Banks MORE THAN 14 TIMES!

At least 38 executions have been carried out in the United States in face of compelling evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt.

Last count for Texas was 23 executions with compelling evidence of innocence.

Texas' death penalty and criminal justice system has imploded so many times its hard to keep count.

[pinto]

6. Some background here (via NY Times, 3/10/05)

U.S. Says It Has Withdrawn From World Judicial Body
By ADAM LIPTAK

Published: March 10, 2005

rompted by an international tribunal's decision last year ordering new hearings for 51 Mexicans on death rows in the United States, the State Department said yesterday that the United States had withdrawn from the protocol that gave the tribunal jurisdiction to hear such disputes.

The withdrawal followed a Feb. 28 memorandum from President Bush to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales directing state courts to abide by the decision of the tribunal, the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The decision required American courts to grant "review and reconsideration" to claims that the inmates' cases had been hurt by the failure of local authorities to allow them to contact consular officials.

The memorandum, issued in connection with a case the United States Supreme Court is scheduled to hear this month, puzzled state prosecutors, who said it seemed inconsistent with the administration's general hostility to international institutions and its support for the death penalty.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/10/politics/10death.html

[L0oniX]

7. How nice. If you are black you get executed but if you are mexican...pffft !

I hope George Bush will rot in hell.

[jdadd]

8. Freeper heads are probably exploding....

"Bush wants to protect Mexican Illegals and dosn't care about the teenage girls"

[MilesColtrane]

9. This had to hurt.

We all know how much he enjoys executions.

He just couldn't turn down a chance to grab more power.

He's the Unitary Decider Man in Chief.