Is the United States a Nation of Laws?

Question

The US And Mexico have ratifed The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) enables consular official to protect thier citizens. The US agreed to settle disputes regarding the interpetation and application of the VCCA in the International court of Justice.

The US was the 1st country to invoke the protocal, successfully suing Iran for taking 52 US hostages in 1979.

In March of 2004 the ICJ ruled in the Avena case (Mexico v USA) That the police had the duty to inform Avena ,As soon as they determined he was a Foreign national, In the (Avena and Other Mexican nationals ) the US violated Artical 35 obilgations 51 of 52 reviewed cases. ( 98% failure rate)

In a memorandum to the (Attorney Gereral) Bush stated that he had determined" that the US will discharge its International obligations under the decision of the International Court of Justice" and he ordered the state courts to grant review.

Texas said it would not comply with the Avena judgement.

Sources:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=198&scid=31
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/artical.php?&did=1379

No one is asking for a pardon.! Only that the UA comply with the VCCR that it ratified.
In the case"Sorensen v City of New York,
a Danish national was not informed of her VAAR rights by the police and offical records produced revealed that over 53,000 foreign nationals were arrested in NY in 1997, But NYPB Alien Notification Log registered only 4 cases a failure rate in excess of 99 %..

However a letter on March, from C. Rice to UN Secretary General, the Administration notified the UN that the United States was withdrawing from the Optional Protocol to the VCCR.
The Executive order to review the cases still stands, the withdrawal of the USA affects future disputes, The "Avena and 50 Other Mexican National still stands."

When you go into another Nation, you are no longer covered by US law but the Nation laws that you are in ,Mexico Laws are the Napoleonic Code, "You are guilty until proven innocent"

Sources:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?&did=1379

Answer 1

Yes foreign nationals have the right to consular assistance. And consulates or embassies should be informed of their country's citizens being in jail and have access to the citizen.

With that the foreign national is under the laws of the country they are in and will be tried under those laws. It should be as simple as that.

And of course it is not. There is a state's rights vs. executive power thing that is happening with Avena and other foreign nationals in TX and that is where the legal arguments will be coming from.

TX government and governors really do not want to have to review a bunch of death row cases for what it calls a technicality. They want to have the reputation for being tough on crime and they don't want delay or anything like clemency in a death row prisoner's case. I think that's why they will fight.

So the US is breaking international diplomatic law because of politics of a part of the US.

But the whole point of international law is that a country is soverign and it is fit to enforce it's own laws.

And the US was based on the principle that it would be a nation of laws and not men.

I really wish that more people knew about this because it is too damn important. Americans need to know about things like this and know about the outcomes of when the wrong thing is done.

And of course Americans should know about when another country fails or does not keep faith with their commitments. Fair is fair.

I can't really answer Mr. Daniel's question. But I think that any nation of laws really needs it's citizens to know what is going on so that it Stays that way. You can't let bureaucrats and politicians just run everything w/o watching them. You get a mess!

Answer 2

I do not believe the United States of America should have to take orders from the United Nations because the USA shows more Love and Compassion to people all over the world everyday than the UN does.

Answer 3

well it does seem like in this case Texas is not stepping up for what the USA agreed to . in regards to what it is going on in this case in particular all i can say is that i do agree with the sentence he would get , however i do see the repercussions of what this could bring to the USA and i do think it would be like giving a free pass to every nation in the world to ignore anything they sing and to ignore all agreements , i also do understand that it too would give them a free pass to deny Americans detained in their countries from legal advice from the USA , so with all this all i can say is that hopefully he will get what he deserves at the end but that the USA needs to start doing as it should when it comes to this cases to avoid any other problems such as this one in the future . 98 percent not comply does not speak well of the USA .

Answer 4

We are a nation of corrupt big business and big government,that as a matter of policy,IGNORES THE WILL OF ITS OWN CITIZENS!!! Special Interest groups are In control of this nation,and that my friend Is a FACT. We are fast becoming a multicultural mess,and our citizens are being lead to slaughter by BIG BUSINESS MAINSTREAM MEDIA that Is currently In the process of SILENCING the PRESIDENTIAL hopefuls that they (BIG BUSINESS) do not like. The so called PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES are a sham,and are nothing more than the MAINSTREAM MEDIAS push for the candidates that THEY LIKE....

Answer 5

according to George W Bush yes it is....funny thing though...he surely doesnt like to enforce them now does he?