Thanks Ted, I believe this to be the first cause of the bad blood between him and GWB.
Texas fights at Supreme Court in death row case
Solicitor general argues that the World Court and the president don't trump state law in Mexican inmates controversy PATTY REINERT, Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
Published 5:30 am, Thursday, October 11, 2007 WASHINGTON — In spirited arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, an attorney for Texas said Wednesday that neither a presidential order nor a ruling by the International Court of Justice should be allowed to trump state law and interfere with the cases of Mexican inmates on U.S. death row.
Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz conceded that police violated the 1963 Vienna Convention in denying Jose Medellin, a Mexican citizen, the chance to contact the Mexican Consulate for legal help after his 1993 arrest in the gang rape and murder of two Houston teenagers.
But he said President Bush's remedy for the treaty violation — making state courts review the convictions and death sentences of Medellin and 50 other Mexican inmates — would give the president unprecedented power over the judiciary and give the "World Court" authority over U.S. law.
The treaty dispute, which the World Court decided in Mexico's favor after that country sued the U.S., should be resolved through political and diplomatic channels, Cruz told the justices. No other nation, including Mexico, would allow U.S. inmates in their countries to use their court systems to enforce the World Court's ruling, he said.
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http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Texas-fights-at-Supreme-Court-in-death-row-case-1810200.php
