[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday held in the consolidated cases of Sanchez-Llamas v. Oregon and Bustillo v. Johnson [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report] that suppression of statements given to the police is not an appropriate remedy when police fail to inform foreign nationals of their right to have their consulates notified of their arrests under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations [text]. The Court also ruled, referring to its 1998 per curiam decision in Breard v. Green [text], that states may treat claims that Vienna Convention rights have been violated "to the same procedural default rules that apply generally to other federal-law claims." The Court did not decide the issue of whether the Vienna Convention conveys individual rights enforceable in US courts.

Read the Court's majority opinion [text] per Chief Justice Roberts, along with a concurrence in the judgment [text] from Justice Ginsburg, and a dissent [text] from Justice Breyer, who was joined in full by Justices Stevens and Souter and in part by Justice Ginsburg. AP has more.