World Court orders changes in U.S. death penalty.(Insider Report)

On March 31, the International Court of Justice, more commonly known as the World Court, ruled that the United States "should provide by means of its own choosing meaningful review of the conviction and sentence" of 47 Mexican citizens currently on death row. The case initially dealt with 52 convicted Mexican murderers, five of whom have been executed. Prior to issuing its decision, the World Court "ordered the United States to halt the execution process of three Mexicans, two in Texas, and one in Oklahoma, until the ruling," observed the London Guardian. (The Oklahoma case, incidentally, involved the murder of another Mexican national.)

The Mexican government, which purports to regard the death penalty as inhumane, accused the U.S. of neglecting to inform Mexican defendants in capital cases of their right to contact the local Mexican consulate, as provided in the 1963 Vienna Convention. In its defense, the U.S. correctly described Mexico's complaint as a "radical intrusion" into our nation's justice system.

The World Court insists that its rulings are "binding, final and without appeal"--and in this unprecedented case it acted as a de facto Supra-Supreme Court. Mexican President Vicente Fox told reporters, "It is up to the United States to comply here." Fox, noted an April 13 AP report, "has pushed to make the United Nations stronger, so that it can help resolve international disputes." He discussed the World Court decision with President Bush in an April 13 phone call, but neither would discuss the specifics of that conversation.

Interestingly, the current presiding judge of the World Court is Shi Jiuyong of Communist China, a regime that has hardly distinguished itself as a haven of due ...