Puerto Rico v. Branstad 1987

• Author: Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw
• Pages: 990-994

Contenidos

• The Fugitive.
• The Justice.
• Suggestions for further reading.

Page 990

Petitioner: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Respondent: Terry Branstad, Governor of Iowa, et al.

Petitioner's Claim: That Iowa violated the Extradition Clause of the U.S. Constitution by refusing to extradite Ronald Calder, who was wanted for murder in Puerto Rico.

Chief Lawyer for Petitioner: Lino J. Saldana

Chief Lawyer for Respondent: Brent R. Appel

Justices for the Court: Harry A. Blackmun, William J. Brennan, Jr., Thurgood Marshall (writing for the Court), Sandra Day O'Connor, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, John Paul Stevens, Byron R. White

Justices Dissenting: None

Date of Decision: June 23, 1987

Decision: The Supreme Court said federal courts could require Iowa to extradite Ronald Calder to Puerto Rico.

Significance: With Branstad, the Supreme Court said federal courts have the power to order state governments to obey the U.S. Constitution and federal laws.

The Extradition Clause of the U.S. Constitution requires states to extradite fugitives who are hiding in their states. A fugitive is someone who escapes from law enforcement and fails to appear to be tried for a crime. When a state extradites a fugitive, it arrests him and delivers him to the

Page 991

state where he is wanted for a crime. In 1793, Congress passed the Extradition Act, which requires states and territories of the United States to obey the Extradition Clause.

In Kentucky v. Dennison (1861), the U.S. Supreme Court issued a strange ruling about the Extradition Clause. It said states must obey the clause, but the federal government may not enforce the clause or punish states for disobedience. The Supreme Court said state and federal governments are equal sovereign powers, so one cannot order the other to do anything. In Puerto Rico v. Branstad (1987), the Supreme Court had to decide whether Dennison was still good law.

The Fugitive

Ronald Calder was an air traffic controller from Iowa who worked for the Federal Aviation Administration in San Juan, Puerto Rico. On 25 January 1981, Calder got into an argument with Antonio de Jesus Gonzalez in the parking lot of a grocery store. An angry Calder got into his car and drove it into Gonzalez and Gonzalez's pregnant wife, Army Villalba. After striking the couple, Calder backed his car up over Villalba's body two or three times. Gonzalez survived, but Villalba and her unborn child died.

Puerto Rican authorities...