FINDLAW:Daily Opinion Summaries for U.S. Supreme Court - 03/25/08

CIVIL PROCEDURE, CONTRACTS, DISPUTE RESOLUTION & ARBITRATION, ENVIRONMENTAL LAW, LANDLORD TENANT LAW, MANUFACTURING, WATER LAW

Hall Street Assocs., L.L.C. v. Mattel, Inc., No. 06-989The statutory grounds provided by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) for expedited judicial review to confirm, vacate, or modify arbitration awards are exclusive, as opposed to mere threshold provisions open to expansion by agreement. In a dispute between a commercial landlord and tenant-manufacturer, involving arbitration of the applicability of a lease indemnification provision for failure to comply with environmental laws, the Ninth Circuit’s judgment is vacated and the case remanded for further proceedings.

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, HABEAS CORPUS, INTERNATIONAL LAW

Medellin v. Texas, No. 06-984Neither an International Court of Justice case, Case Concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mex. v. U. S.), 2004 I. C. J. 12, nor a memorandum issued by the President of the United States constitutes directly enforceable federal law that pre-empts state limitations on the filing of successive habeas petitions. Consequently, dismissal of a habeas petition in a death penalty case raising a claim that petitioner was not informed of his Vienna Convention right to notify the Mexican consulate of his detention is affirmed.