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June 16, 2004
Lone Star Justice
Ye Gods!
The current White House chief legal counsel Alberto Gonzales, who had been widely rumored to be the next Supreme Court Nominee before authoring the latest memos arguing the president was not bound by international or domestic law, had opined in the past that the State of Texas was not bound by international treaties signed by the United States.
There goes a few hundred years of precedent along with the United States constitution, but, hey, we got to execute a Mexican national who did not speak English and who signed a murder confession thinking it was an immigration document, without a translator or lawyer present:
On June 16, 1997, [Alberto] Gonzales first showcased his proclivity for torturing international law when he sent a letter to the U.S. State Department in which he argued that, "Since the State of Texas is not a signatory to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, we believe it is inappropriate to ask Texas to determine whether a breach … occurred in connection with the arrest and conviction" of a Mexican national. Or, put another way, he asserted that an international treaty just didn't apply to Texas. The Mexican in question, Irineo Tristan Montoya, was a fisherman convicted of brutally stabbing and murdering John Kilheffer in Brownsville, Texas, in 1985. Tristan, who insisted he was innocent, was executed two days after Gonzales sent his memo to State, despite protests from the Mexican government. Mexico alleged that Texas had violated Tristan's rights under the Vienna Convention because it had failed to inform the Mexican consulate at the time of his arrest. The Vienna Convention, ratified by the Senate in 1969, was designed to ensure that foreign nationals accused of a crime are given access to legal counsel by a representative from their home country. In the absence of a lawyer and without access to Mexican authorities, Tristan, who neither spoke nor understood English, signed a confession that he later said he believed to be an immigration document.
I wondered if he found it odd that nobody asked for his passport when he left Texas for D.C.
Posted by zeynep at June 16, 2004 12:20 AM
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Comments
Does this mean that a Texan can not legaly be elected President of the United States?
Posted by: James Stevens at June 16, 2004 09:35 AM
I don't know but this one sure as hell wasn't!! This Bush Administration is clearly a white-collar criminal mafioso operation. Bush-43 has been involved in criminal activities his entire life as has the entire extended Bush family. These people have no scruples, no morals, no ethics, and no business doing business anywhere on this planet. I don't buy this bullshit argument that Bush believes "in his heart" that he is doing what is best for the country. George W. Bush is a cruel and sadistic man who has no heart. If American law and the American legal system weren't a total sham, Bush-Cheney-Ashcroft-Rumsfeld-et al including Alberto Gonzales would have been proscecuted for their crimes a long time ago and would already be in prison. Period. The travesty continues.
Old & In The Way
Posted by: Phil Cicchi at June 16, 2004 09:59 AM
Well, let's look on the bright side. I think James is right. By Gonzales' logic, one would have to concede that Bush wasn't even appointable by the Supreme Court.
Posted by: zeynep at June 17, 2004 01:14 AM
I think that James comment was clever and funny. I certainly laughed when I read it. On the other hand it is pure nonsense for Gonzales to argue that an international treaty to which the United States is a signatory does not apply to the state of Texas. Further I agree wholeheartedly that using Gonzales' logic Bush was not appointable by the Supreme Court. Virtually every aspect of the Bush-43 Administration is beyond logic and law, however. Thank you for taking the time to read our comments and respond. Your blog keeps me engaged.
I may pay my taxes in Texas this year. I assume in Texas that I would pay no taxes. When the IRS asks me why I've paid no taxes, I will tell them I paid my no taxes in Texas and if they want the no taxes I paid in Texas, they will have to go to Texas to get the no taxes I paid in Texas. No taxes in Texas ought to float as well as no Vienna Convention. Right?
Sincerely,
Old & In The Way
Posted by: Phil Cicchi at June 17, 2004 07:58 PM
Re: James Stevens
Mark Lane, author of Rush to Judgement, the demolition job on the Warren Commission report on the Kennedy assassination followed up with another book, Plausible Denial. In it he places a CIA asset George Bush - later a Director of the CIA - in Dallas on the day of the assassination. Bush has always denied this, as is his right I suppose.
Posted by: les at June 20, 2004 11:06 AM
Sorry
Re: should have read Phil Cicchi
Posted by: les at June 20, 2004 11:08 AM