Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/524bv.pdf
Page Number: 760.0

524US2

Unit: $U97

[09-06-00 19:37:28] PAGES PGT: OPIN

Cite as: 524 U. S. 666 (1998)

715

Breyer, J., dissenting

Int’l L. 123 (1992); Zagaris, International Criminal and
Enforcement Cooperation in the Americas in the Wake of
Integration, 3 Sw. J. L. & Trade Am. 1 (1996). The United
States has entered into some 20 “mutual legal assistance
treaties” through which it may develop and share evidence
with foreign governments in order to facilitate criminal
prosecutions abroad, see New MLAT Treaties Increase
DOJ’s Reach, 4 No. 7 DOJ Alert 7 (Apr. 18, 1994) (listing and
discussing treaties); it has signed more than 50 new extradi-
tion agreements, see 18 U. S. C. § 3181 (1994 ed., Supp. II)
(listing extradition treaties ratiﬁed since 1960); Nadelman,
Cops Across Borders, at 489–502 (same); it has increased by
an order of magnitude the number of law enforcement ofﬁces
and personnel located abroad, see id., at 479–486 (cataloging
growth in foreign-based law enforcement personnel since
1965); and it has established a special ofﬁce “ ‘for the purpose
of centralizing and giving greater emphasis and visibility to
[the Justice Department’s] prosecutorial service functions in
the international arena,’ ” which has led to a “dramatic in-
crease in the number of extraditions” and an “even greater
growth in the numbers of requests for evidence in criminal
cases” since the 1970’s, id., at 402 (discussing DOJ’s Ofﬁce of
International Affairs (alterations omitted)).

Indeed, the United States has a signiﬁcant stake in the
foreign prosecution at issue here. Congress has passed a
deportation law targeted at suspected Nazi war criminals.
See 8 U. S. C. § 1182(a)(3)(E). The Justice Department has
established an agency whose mandate includes the assistance
of foreign governments in the prosecution of those deported.
See App. 15–17 (Order No. 851–79, establishing DOJ’s Ofﬁce
of Special Investigations). And the United States has
agreed with Lithuania (where Balsys may stand trial) “to
cooperate in prosecution of persons who are alleged to have
committed war crimes . . . [and] to provide . . . legal assist-
ance concerning [such] prosecution[s].” Memorandum of
Understanding Between United States Department of Jus-