380
Breyer, J., dissenting
There is no compelling reason for refusing to follow the procedures that we have adopted for the orderly disposition of noncapital cases. Indeed, the international aspects of this case provide an additional reason for adhering to our established Rules and procedures. I would therefore grant the applications for a stay, and I respectfully dissent from the decision to act hastily rather than with the deliberation that is appropriate in a case of this character.
Justice Ginsburg, dissenting in No. 97-8214 (A-732).
I would grant the application for a stay of execution in order to consider in the ordinary course the instant petition, Breard's first federal petition for writ of habeas corpus.
Justice Breyer, dissenting.
In my view, several of the issues raised here are of sufficient difficulty to warrant less speedy consideration. Breard argues, for example, that the novelty of his Vienna Convention claim is sufficient to create "cause" for his having failed to present that claim to the Virginia state courts. Pet. for Cert. in No. 97-8214, pp. 20-22. He might add that the nature of his claim, were we to accept it, is such as to create a "watershed rule of criminal procedure," which might overcome the bar to consideration otherwise posed by Teague v. Lane, 489 U. S. 288, 311 (1989). He additionally says that what the Solicitor General describes as Virginia's violation of the Convention "prejudiced" him by isolating him at a critical moment from Consular Officials who might have advised him to try to avoid the death penalty by pleading guilty. Pet. for Cert. in No. 97-8214, p. 22; see Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae in Nos. 97-1390 and 97-8214, p. 12 ("[T]he Executive Branch has conceded that the Vienna Convention was violated"). I cannot say, without examining the record more fully, that these arguments are obviously without merit. Nor am I willing to accept without fuller briefing and consideration the positions taken
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