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St. Thomas Law Review

First Page

489

Document Type

Comment

Abstract

In Breard v. Greene, the Supreme Court of the United States ignored an order of the International Court of Justice ("ICJ") requesting a temporary stay of execution. In so doing, the Court may have violated Article 94 of the United Nations Charter, a duly ratified treaty of the United States, which requires the United States to abide by decisions of the ICJ. This case arose in federal court on a writ of habeas corpus on appeal from a state court conviction of attempted rape and murder in Virginia. After the writ of habeas corpus was denied in both the district and circuit courts, this case was heard by the Supreme Court after the ICJ in The Hague issued an order requesting the United States to postpone Breard's execution until after a full evidentiary hearing by that tribunal. The Supreme Court denied this request by the ICJ and the Commonwealth of Virginia executed Breard. Breard presents four major issues. Part I analyzes the case brought in Federal District Court by the Republic of Paraguay as the companion case to Breard, involving an alleged violation of Paraguay's sovereignty under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and a claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Part II discusses the Court's rationale in disposing of Breard's claim of violation of his rights under the Vienna Convention. Part III deals with the issue of the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and the authority under which it acts as it relates to the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. Part IV deals with the policy issues raised as to whether the International Court of Justice can or should become a de facto court of final appeal in criminal cases.

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