25 Mar Medellin’s Lawyer Speaks!
My former boss and Medellin’s counsel Donald Donovan (of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP) sends out this reaction to the Medelllin decision.
Donald Francis Donovan of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, New York, counsel to petitioner Jose Ernesto Medellín, in response to the March 25, 2008 decision of the United States Supreme Court in MEDELLIN v. TEXAS:
We are disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision, which is a departure from the original intent of the framers of the Constitution and over 200 years of enforcement of treaties by U.S. courts. But the Court unanimously confirmed that the United States has agreed by treaty to comply with the Avena judgment, and that the United States has the means to comply with it. While the Court has held that another step is required, we are confident that the President and the Congress will take that step, to ensure that the United States complies with the commitment that the elected representatives of the American people made when they agreed by treaty to comply with ICJ judgments. Having given its word, the United States should keep its word.
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