 | This article has an unclear citation style. (May 2012) |
| Leal Garcia v. Texas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Decided July 7, 2011 | |
| Full case name | Leal Garcia v. Texas |
| Docket no. | 11-5001 |
| Citations | 564 U.S. 940 (more) 131 S. Ct. 2866; 180 L. Ed. 2d 872; 2011 U.S. LEXIS 5019 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Application for stay and on petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit |
| Holding | |
| Courts cannot stay an execution on the basis of the then possibility that Congress will, in the future, enact a statute to enforce an international law. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Per curiam | |
| Dissent | Breyer, joined by Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan |
| Part of a series on |
| Chicanos and Mexican Americans |
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Leal Garcia v. Texas, 564 U.S. 940 (2011), was a ruling in which the Supreme Court of the United States denied Humberto Leal García's application for stay of execution and application for writ of habeas corpus.[1] Leal was subsequently executed by lethal injection.[2] The central issue was not Leal's guilt,[3] but rather that he was not notified of his right to call his consulate as required by international law.[4] The Court did not stay the execution because Congress had never enacted legislation regarding this provision of international law.[5] The ruling attracted a great deal of commentary[6] and Leal's case was supported by attorneys specializing in international law and several former United States diplomats.[7]
- ^ Leal Garcia v. Texas, 564 U.S. 940 (2011) ("The applications for stay of execution presented to JUSTICE SCALIA and by him referred to the Court are denied. The petition for a writ of habeas corpus is denied.")
- ^ McGreal, Chris Humberto Leal Garcia executed in Texas despite White House appeal The Guardian, "Humberto Leal Garcia was executed by lethal injection for the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl..."
- ^ Cohen, Andrew Humberto Leal Garcia: The Supreme Court Makes a Bad Situation Worse The Atlantic, "...though this is not an evident case of an innocent man wrongly convicted -- no one seriously claims that Texas prosecutors got the wrong man -- the matter of consular notification has been a vibrant topic of international discussion and angst for years."
- ^ Cohen, Andrew Humberto Leal Garcia: The Supreme Court Makes a Bad Situation Worse The Atlantic, "Leal, convicted of murder in Texas 16 years ago, was denied the right to access to the Mexican consulate at the time of his arrest. In 2004, the International Court of Justice at the Hague declared that such rights were valid under the Vienna Convention."
- ^ Cohen, Andrew Humberto Leal Garcia: The Supreme Court Makes a Bad Situation Worse The Atlantic, "Congressional action was necessary to allow Leal to fully vindicate his right.... [Congress] was working through the legislation that would expressly adopt consular rights."
- ^ Cohen, Andrew Humberto Leal Garcia: The Supreme Court Makes a Bad Situation Worse The Atlantic, "There has been a great deal of analysis and commentary on the Leal case -- some of it better than the rest -- but at heart, Thursday's dramatic events are simple to explain."
- ^ Tillman, Zoe Supreme Court Denies Stay of Execution for Humberto Leal Garcia The National Law Journal, "Leal’s request for a stay garnered support from international law attorneys as well as former U.S. diplomats. In a statement Thursday, a group of five former diplomats and attorneys – including former U.S. ambassador to Mexico James Jones, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering and Arnold & Porter partner and former State Department legal advisor John Bellinger III – called on Congress to ensure the U.S. observes the Vienna Convention."