A shot fired into Mexico killed a teenager, and now, the Supreme Court will weigh in
Source: Dallas Morning News
A shot fired into Mexico killed a teenager, and now, the Supreme Court will weigh in
Filed under Politics at 3 hrs ago
WASHINGTON — It sounds like the beginning of a riddle: An American border patrol agent, standing in America, shoots a Mexican teenager, standing in Mexico.
But that’s exactly what happened on the El Paso-Juárez border. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the teen’s grieving parents are allowed to sue the man responsible.
. . .
But Gupta, who will argue on behalf of the Hernández family to the Supreme Court, says constitutional protections don’t always end precisely at the physical border. He cites the court’s ruling in a 2008 case that extended certain constitutional protections to inmates at the U.S.-controlled detention camps in Guantanamo Bay, which is technically in Cuba.
“We lay out a multi-factor test, and the pitch we have in this case is quite modest,” Gupta said. “When we’re talking about an unarmed civilian, in an enclosed space where the U.S. patrols — under those specific circumstances — it is neither impractical or anomalous to extend constitutional protection.”
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2016/12/27/shot-fired-mexico-killed-teenager-andnow-supreme-court-will-weigh
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The courts don't have jurisdiction over somebody in the US, he'd have to be tried in absentia or extradited. The suit would be subject to what nationalist or corrupt tendencies the courts in Mexico have--few want to argue that they're paragons of justice. (It's only bad to point this out when some ethnic or community line can be invoked to provide knee-jerk defense. Which gets us back to "nationalist."
Big bad migra shoots honest local kid. Good luck with a jury on that one.
Then again it might be harder for the US resident to get access to Mexican witnesses if it's brought in the US; easier, if in a Mexican court. The Mexican side could recruit, and if there's evidence it wants ignored it can just ignore it.
Settlement would be in $. Not pesos.
News would be in American press, not (just) the Mexican press.
