From AFP Via Rawstory:
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.
While some states complied with his order, Texas judges refused to examine Medellin’s appeal on grounds they were not bound by ICJ decisions nor by presidential orders on the principle of separation of powers.
The Supreme Court ruled six to three in favor of Texas’ magistrates
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