Puerto Rico v. Branstad
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''Puerto Rico v. Branstad'', 483 U.S. 219 (1987), was a case decided by the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
that ruled unanimously that federal courts have the power to enforce extraditions based on the
Extradition Clause The Extradition Clause or Interstate Rendition Clause of the United States Constitution is Article Four of the United States Constitution, Article IV, Article Four of the United States Constitution#Section 2: Rights of state citizens; rights of extr ...
of Article Four of the United States Constitution. The decision overruled a prior decision in ''
Kentucky v. Dennison The Taney Court (the Supreme Court of the United States under Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, 1836–1864) heard thirty criminal law cases, approximately one per year. Notable cases include ''Prigg v. Pennsylvania'' (1842), '' United States v. Ro ...
'', which had made federal courts powerless to order governors of other U.S. states to fulfill their obligations in the Extradition Clause.


Background

The
Extradition Clause The Extradition Clause or Interstate Rendition Clause of the United States Constitution is Article Four of the United States Constitution, Article IV, Article Four of the United States Constitution#Section 2: Rights of state citizens; rights of extr ...
, in Article IV, Section 2, of the
United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
reads:
A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.
Congress also legislated the Extradition Act, , which effectively reads the same as the Extradition Clause except to include territories, districts, and states as well. The Supreme Court had held in ''Kentucky v. Dennison'' (1861), before the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, that the federal courts may not issue
writs of mandamus (; ) is a judicial remedy in the form of an order from a court to any government, subordinate court, corporation, or public authority, to do (or forbear from doing) some specific act which that body is obliged under law to do (or refrain fro ...
to compel state governors to surrender fugitives. On 25 January 1981,
Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
native Ronald Calder struck a Puerto Rican couple, Antonio de Jesus and his wife Amy Villalba de Jesus, with his car in a grocery store parking lot near Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, following what was reportedly a dispute over scraped fenders. Antonio de Jesus survived the attack but Amy, who was eight months pregnant, died shortly afterwards. Witnesses testified that Calder, after striking the couple, backed his car two or three times over the victim's body. Calder claimed that de Jesus had threatened him with an iron bar and that he had accidentally run over de Jesus's wife whilst attempting to flee. Calder was arrested and charged with first-degree homicide by Puerto Rican authorities and was released after paying $5,000 bail. However, Calder did not appear at two preliminary hearings that were scheduled in the
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
District Courts, and he was then declared a fugitive of justice. The Puerto Rican authorities notified the police in
Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
because they had suspicions that he had fled to his home state. In April 1981, Calder surrendered to the police in
Polk County, Iowa Polk County is located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 492,401. It is Iowa's most populous county, and home to over 15% of the state's residents. The county seat is Des Moines, which is also the capital city ...
, but was released after he had posted the $20,000 bail that had been set by an Iowa District Court magistrate. In May 1981, the
governor of Puerto Rico The governor of Puerto Rico ( es, gobernador de Puerto Rico) is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and commander-in-chief of the Puerto Rico National Guard. The governor has a duty ...
, Carlos Romero Barceló, submitted to the
governor of Iowa A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
,
Robert D. Ray Robert Dolph Ray (September 26, 1928 – July 8, 2018) was an American lawyer and Republican politician. He served as the 38th governor of Iowa from January 16, 1969 to January 14, 1983. During his tenure as governor, Ray served as chair of t ...
, a request for extradition. The request for extradition was referred to an extradition hearing at which Calder's counsel testified that "a white American man could not receive a fair trial in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico." After failed attempts were made to negotiate a reduction in charges against Calder, Ray wrote, in December 1981, to Barceló that in the absence of a "change to a more realistic charge," the request for extradition was denied. Another extradition request was made to Ray's successor,
Terry Branstad Terry Edward Branstad (born November 17, 1946) is an American politician and former diplomat. A member of the Republican Party, he served three terms in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979 before serving as governor of Iowa fro ...
, but was also denied. In February 1984, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico filed a petition for a writ of mandamus in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa to order Branstad to proceed with the extradition of Calder. Branstad argued that the Extradition Clause did not apply to Puerto Rico because the island was not a U.S. state. Furthermore, he claimed that Puerto Rico could not invoke the Extradition Act because the federal courts, under ''Kentucky v. Dennison'', did not have the power to order governors to follow the Extradition Clause or Act. The District Court agreed and dismissed the case. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed.


Decision

Justice Marshall delivered the Court's opinion. It concluded that the precedent established by ''Kentucky v. Dennison'' was "the product of another time. The conception of the relation between the States and the Federal Government there announced is fundamentally incompatible with more than a century of constitutional development." The Supreme Court, therefore, established the power of federal courts to enforce both the Extradition Clause and the Extradition Act by writs of mandamus. One point that arose during oral argument was whether the Extradition Clause applied to Puerto Rico since it is not a U.S. state. Although Justice Marshall, joined by five other Justices, analyzed Puerto Rico's current political condition as one that gives Puerto Rico certain rights comparable to those of the U.S. states, he applied in the end the Extradition Act, which clearly includes U.S. territories. Justice O'Connor noted that fact in her concurrence and did not join the opinion of the Court regarding Puerto Rico's status. Justice Scalia also did not join that section of the opinion and noted that "no party before us has asserted the lack of power of Congress to require extradition from a State to a Territory." The decision effectively overruled ''Kentucky v. Dennison'' and reversed the judgments of the Eighth Circuit and the Southern District of Iowa.


Aftermath

Following the ruling, Calder voluntarily returned to Puerto Rico in September 1987 to face charges of murder and attempted murder. These were dismissed by the trial judge and Calder instead pleaded guilty in January 1988 to voluntary manslaughter and attempted manslaughter. He was given 16 and 5-year suspended sentences and permitted to return to Iowa on 15-years' probation. After his return, he was rehired by the Federal Aviation Administration and worked there until his retirement. He died in May 2015 in Des Moines, aged 75.


See also

* List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 483 * List of United States Supreme Court cases * Lists of United States Supreme Court cases by volume * List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Rehnquist Court * Rendition *
Federalism Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments (Province, provincial, State (sub-national), state, Canton (administrative division), can ...


References


External links

* {{caselaw source , case = ''Puerto Rico v. Branstad'', {{ussc, 483, 219, 1987, el=no , cornell =https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/483/219 , courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/111940/puerto-rico-v-branstad/ , findlaw = https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/483/219.html , googlescholar =https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3217694298974153257 , justia =https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/483/219/ , loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep483/usrep483219/usrep483219.pdf , oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/1986/85-2116 United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court United States Supreme Court decisions that overrule a prior Supreme Court decision Extradition Clause case law 1987 in United States case law Legal history of Puerto Rico Legal history of Iowa