Texas Never signed the treaty

Embarrassment may lie ahead for our embarrassment of an Attorney General, Alberto Gonzoles. Most people know him as the man who decided that the Geneva Conventions were "quaint." But his pro-torture memos weren't the first suspect legal opinions he provided for George W. While Bush was Governor, Gonzales insisted that Texas did not have to follow the terms of an Vienna Conventions signed by, among others, the USA and Mexico, that defendants in capital cases have the right to contact their nation's consular after arrest. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear this case, (article) which means that even people who don't read blogs might find out that Mr. Gonzales stated, with regard to this case, that: "Since the State of Texas is not a signatory to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, we believe it is inappropriate to ask Texas to determine whether a breach ... occurred in connection with the arrest and conviction[.]" This is an absolutely absurd statement. Anyone who has been to law school, scratch that, anyone who passed 8th grade social studies, knows that whent the United States government signs an international treaty it binds all of the individual states. For a better description of his faulty legal analysis check out this Nobember 2004 post on Democratic Blog Swarm. Perhaps Mr. Gonzales forgot that Texas is no longer an independent Republic. I admit that I often daydream that this is the case, but then I fucus and remember the reality - that Texas is a part of my country. Ah, well.