Chaotic Last Decisions Delivered

By Lottie Watts

The Supreme Court delivered its final decisions on Thursday in the cases of Medellin v. Texas and Boumediene v. Bush. Justice Ginsberg delivered the decision in Medellin and Justice Kennedy attempted to explain the chaos surrounding Boumediene, which was essentially a victory for the Bush Administration.

Medellin v. Texas was a 6-3 victory for the petitioner. In the opinion, “the court refutes the notion that the President has the authority to order the state courts to follow the ICJ’s Avena ruling.” Justices Kennedy, Stevens, Thomas, Souter and Scalia joined Ginsberg in the opinion. Justice Roberts dissented and Justice Alito joined the dissent. Justice Souter joined the dissent in part.

“Medellin is entitled to a remedy,” Ginsberg said. “The decision will be sent back to the state court of Texas to decide what that remedy will be.”

The justices acknowledged that both of the cases were very difficult to decide.

“I agreed with everything the majority said, except for their overall opinion,” Justice Souter said of Medellin v. Texas.

In Boumediene v. Bush, the justices were divided 4-1-4. At this time, SUNN has not received any documents related to the decision in Boumediene v. Bush.

The justices decided that the US does have jurisdiction at Guantanamo Bay, but they will not hear all habeas cases.

“We are not going to totally strike down the MCA,” Kennedy said.

The detainment of Boumediene with declared constitutional.

As SUNN receives more documents, they will be posted