154
Per Curiam
plenary review in the asylum state of issues that can be fully litigated in the charging state would defeat the plain purposes of the summary and mandatory procedures authorized by Article IV, § 2.' Michigan v. Doran, supra, at 290." Id., at 88.
There are practical reasons as well as legal reasons which support this result. In a brief filed by 40 States as amici curiae, we are advised that in 1997, for example, Ohio made 218 extradition requests from its sister States, and returned 209 prisoners to other States. California in that same year had a total of 685 demands and returns, New York 490, Texas 700, and Pennsylvania 543.* The burden on a demanding State of producing witnesses and records in the asylum State to counter allegations such as those of respondent's in this case would be substantial, indeed.
The Supreme Court of New Mexico also held that the New Mexico Constitution's provision guaranteeing the right "of seeking and obtaining safety" prevailed over the State's duty under Article IV of the United States Constitution. But as long ago as Kentucky v. Dennison, 24 How. 66 (1861), we held that the duty imposed by the Extradition Clause on the asylum State was mandatory. In Puerto Rico v. Branstad, 483 U. S. 219, 227 (1987), we reaffirmed "the conclusion that the commands of the Extradition Clause are mandatory, and afford no discretion to the executive officers or the courts of the asylum State." And in California v. Superior Court of Cal., San Bernardino Cty., 482 U. S. 400, 405-406 (1987), we said:
"The Federal Constitution places certain limits on the sovereign powers of the States, limits that are an essential part of the Framers' conception of national identity and Union. One such limit is found in Article IV, § 2, cl. 2, the Extradition Clause: [text of clause omitted].
*The motion of National Association of Extradition Officials for leave to file a brief as amicus curiae is granted.
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