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524US1

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154

NEW MEXICO ex rel. ORTIZ v. REED

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 pro-
cedures 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 essen-
tial 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.