Court Opinion

ID: 9834717
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-02 01:48:49.094734+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:44:52.660988
License: Public Domain

DISSENT
BERNICE BOUIE DONALD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The treaty’s text is ambiguous. The English version’s “lapse of time” language is broad enough to include the Sixth Amendment’s speedy trial guarantee as Judge White’s concurrence and Judge Clay’s dissent ably demonstrate. However, the Spanish version’s use of “prescripción” is narrow enough to exclude the Sixth Amendment’s speedy trial guarantee as the majority’s erudite opinion makes clear. Since the treaty appears to say one thing in English and another in Spanish, we cannot resolve this case through a plain-meaning textual analysis. That said, I agree with Judge Clay that history and policy considerations support reading the Sixth Amendment’s speedy trial clause into the treaty.