The April 1 Oregonian reports that the International Court of Justice has ruled that the United States has repeatedly violated the 1963 Vienna Convention, which requires arresting officers to tell foreigners that they have a right to call their country’s consulate without delay. The court was deciding a complaint filed by Mexico last year, in which Mexico challenged death sentences given by Texas and Oklahoma to three Mexican citizens. The court did not say that the death sentences must be annulled, but did say that a court (not just a governor or clemency board) must review each sentence and the faces of each case.
As governor of Texas, George Bush didn’t think that Texas officers’ violation of this treaty required him to commute death sentences to life imprisonment. Rick Perry, the current governor, is quoted as saying simply, “The International Court of Justice does not have jurisdiction in Texas.”
And the federal government takes the position that it can’t compel states to adhere to the Vienna Convention, nor can it compel states not to execute foreign citizens who weren’t told of their right to call their consulate. However, the Clinton administration can pass the Defense of Marriage Act, and the Bush administration would like to enforce it.
Fascinating: the federal government can keep the states from marrying people, but not from executing them.