More on the Medellin AntiClimax

Marty Lederman at SCOTUSBlog reports on Texas' response to the President's order.

Julian Ku at Opinio Juris predicts that the Bush Administration's actions will cause the court to dismiss Medellin's appeal. This, however, he questions due to the Texas response.

The question seems to be what the Bush memo should be considered for purposes of preempting the state procedural statute. In Garamendi, the Supreme Court held 5-4 that an executive agreement preempted a California state insurance statute, and I can't see how the Court could distinguish the current case from Garamendi, unless, as Professor Ku notes, this is not an executive order.

So, it seems, the decision we were all so excited for will have to wait. Probably a good move for the White House, however, as Justice Kennedy, as Phocion notes, cannot be trusted. :)

UPDATE: Julian Ku has information, on good authority, that the U.S. may withdraw from the optional protocol of the Vienna Convention.

UPDATE: It's true, the U.S. has officially withdrawn. But, as Marty Lederman notes, "There is some question whether today's treaty "withdrawal" was effective because the President acted alone, without the assent of the Senate and/or the Congress." See the post for his whole take.