Bush urges against death penalty for Mexican killer

As Governor of Texas, George W. Bush denied clemency to 152 “Death Row” inmates who would eventually be executed. In 1999, Bush said the following months before a Canadian national was executed in Texas:

“Foreigners can't expect to get away with murder in the state of Texas.”

Yet as he nears his last term as president, Bush is interceding in the legal case of a convicted killer from Mexico. Bush has asked the Supreme Court to prevent the execution of Jose Ernesto Medellin on the basis that his execution would violate international law.

Texas solicitor-general Ted Cruz- a “close political ally” of the president- argued on Wednesday that the president cannot use executive privilege to override state law after the International Court of Justice ruled in 20004 that Medellin should receive a retrial. However Medellin’s attorney will contend that lawyer said the president had the power to issue the order under the U.S. constitution.

The legal status of nearly 50 other Mexican nationals awaiting execution in various states would be affected by the high court ruling.

Naturally, conservative commentators are up in arms against Bush’s involvement; as Ramesh Ponnuru concluded:

“Critics of executive power have cried wolf many times during the Bush administration. This time, however, President Bush really has gone too far, and the Supreme Court should not cooperate.”

Sources- The New York Review of Books, Canada.com, Guardian UK, BBC News, MSNBC, Reuters, CNN, National Review Online

Image- Jurist