Bush Supports Rapist/Murderer and International Criminal Court Over Texas Justice
It would be impossible the parody the depth to which George W. Bush has sunk. A truly unprincipled traitor to his country and now his adopted home state:
President George W. Bush, who presided over 152 executions as governor of Texas, wants to halt the state’s execution of a Mexican national for the brutal killing of two teenage girls. Texas wants the death penalty to be carried out.
The case of Jose Ernesto Medellin has become a confusing test of presidential power that the U.S. Supreme Court 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.
October 10th, 2007 at 9:36 am
From Wikipedia:
“Article 36 of the [1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations] requires that foreign nationals who are arrested or detained be given notice “without delay” of their right to have their embassy or consulate notified of that arrest. The notice can be as simple as a fax, giving the person’s name, the place of arrest, and, if possible, something about the reason for the arrest or detention. The police must fax that notice to the embassy or consulate, which can then check up on the person.
“In March of 2005, the United States pulled out of the Optional Protocol to the convention, which allows the International Court of Justice to intervene when detained foreign nationals are denied access to consular officials when imprisoned in a country that is a signatory to the convention. In June 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that foreign nationals who are deprived of the right to consular notification and access after an arrest may not use the treaty violation to suppress evidence obtained in police interrogation or belatedly raise legal challenges after trial (Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon.”
Now the same guy who scoffed at international law when questioned in 2003 about the legality of invading Iraq, who has repeatedly derided the authority — rightly so — of any international body to meddle in American jurisprudence, is a cheerleader for the ICJ.
I lost my scorecard. Are we or are we not (in Bush’s mind) subject to ICJ rulings?
Does (Mexican Presidente) Calderon have something over Bush that Fox didn’t? Because I seem to recall Fox tried — unsuccessfully — to get Mexican murderers on Death Row commuted.
Or is Bush just back on the sauce?
October 10th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
American courts and sovereignty mean nothing to the current Republican leadership. Truly disturbing to anyone paying attention.
October 22nd, 2007 at 6:08 pm
“My Diddy has already advised me to buy that 100,000 ranch in Paraguay next to a U.S. Air base. He said that some folks don’t understand what it’s like to be a decider for democracy, and them atheist judges at the Haig get all crazy about war criminals and stuff! Hispanic people love me and know what I’m trying to accomplish. Besides, a bunch of those German boys came down here to South America after WWII and enjoyed themselves!”