US high court says US states can ignore ICJ rulings (even if the US president orders them to)

[Kadie]

US high court says US states can ignore ICJ rulings
5 minutes ago


WASHINGTON (AFP) - US state courts need not comply with International Court of Justice (ICJ) decisions, even if the US president orders them to, the US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in the case of a Mexican sentenced to death.

The Hague-based ICJ on March 2004 ordered trial revisions in the United States of 51 Mexicans sentenced to death, because they had not been timely informed of their right to consular assistance.

One of them, 33-year-old Jose Medellin -- convicted of raping and murdering two teenagers in Texas in 1993 -- demanded Texas courts acknowledge that the omission pointed out by the ICJ warranted a retrial.

President George W. Bush, exercising his prerrogative in applying international treaties, ordered state judges to determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether any of the 51 Mexicans merited a retrial.

snip...
"We conclude that neither (the ICJ) nor the president's memorandum constitutes directly enforceable federal law that pre-empts state limitations," Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said in the court's opinion.

Bush "has an array of political and diplomatic means available to enforce international obligations, but unilaterally converting a non-self-executing treaty into a self-executing one is not among them," he added.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080325/ts_alt_afp/usmexicojusticecourticj_080325223237;_ylt=AiUAeG6TMv5VXZ3n8yOflsgFO7gF

[billybob537]

1. If we were a signatorie to ICJ

Bush/Cheney would be in the Hague being tried for war crimes.

[eyl]

2. You're mixing up the ICJ and ICC n/t