I Rule You.

Here's an interesting case.  A Mexican was tried, confessed and sentenced in Texas for murder, but never informed of his right to Mexican consulate assistance.  Mexico has since filed suit in the International Justice Court which resulted in Texas being ordered to submit to a review of this and 50 other similar cases.

Here's the rub: Texas doesn't want to.  Not really a big surprise since Texas is widely known to not like being messed with.  Oddly though, former emperor of Texas, President Bush has actually sided with the ICJ, issuing a memorandum as such.  Its kind of an odd agreement, since the court only has jurisdiction in cases where the involved parties provide consent.

So in this case, the US Federal Government has consented to jurisdiction and the court's ruling should stand.  However the State of Texas has not technically signed on to this international treaty (what states do?) and not provided consent.  And while states are commonly seen as subordinate to the Federal Government (mostly at the threat of withheld funding) no one's actually sure if Texas needs to listen to the President in a state presided murder case.  Which could put the President in the awkward position of being powerless to enforce an agreement he entered into.

Wait wait, I know what you're thinking.  Since when does Bush care what the rest of the world thinks concerning American aggression, detention, preemption or retribution?  I could have sworn his foreign policy consisted of a great big "Screw All 'Yall" sign in the rose garden.  Well don't worry cause Bush withdrew us from the part of the agreement that gives the ICJ power over claims of foreign prisoners who were illegally denied access to diplomats. 

So while we're waiting for the Supreme Court to get back to us and decide if Bush is still the boss of Texas, we can rest assured that no wimpy international justice agency will be handing out any more decisions about our prisoners.  Good thing too, cause I'm pretty sure there are a bunch who haven't exactly been given fair access to representation.

• BBC NEWS | Americas | US court considers death row case