Obama Tries to Stop Execution in Texas of Mexican Killer

Article VI, Paragraph II, of the US Constitution designates international treaties signed by the federal government as “the supreme Law of the Land,” which individual US states cannot override. The 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations provides that foreign nationals charged with crimes are entitled to meet with their consular officers and arrange for legal representation. That detail was overlooked after a Mexican national, who had lived in the US since the age of 2, was convicted of rape and murder in Texas. Texas officials are intent on proceeding with his execution. The Guardian reports that the Texas governor has “brushed aside appeals from diplomats, top judges, senior military officers, the United Nations and former president George W Bush to stay Leal's execution because it could jeopardise American citizens arrested abroad as well as US diplomatic interests.” Disregard for constitutional or international law doesn’t demonstrate superiority. Instead, such reckless policy ends up endangering interests of US citizens abroad. – YaleGlobal