Supreme Court overrules international court in Texas case

CNN:

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Texas can execute a Mexican murderer being held on its death row. The case pitted President Bush against his home state in a dispute over federal authority, local sovereignty and foreign treaties.

The man at the center of the case, Jose Ernesto Medellin, faces execution for two slayings.

At issue was whether the state must give in to demands by the president to allow the prisoner new court hearings and sentencing.

Bush made that demand reluctantly, after an international court concluded Medellin was improperly denied access to his consulate before his original prosecution -- a violation of a treaty signed by the United States decades ago.

The Supreme Court justices voted 6 to 3 in favor of the state's position.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority that the international court's ruling "is not domestic law," so Bush's authority to demand a new hearing for Medellin is limited.

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This is a good decision and suggest a good trend in the Supreme Court to shy away from foreign precedents. What is a little surprising about the case is that the court did not stay his death sentence along with all the others because of the lethal injection issue. This could signal how that case will be decided.