SOSA v. ALVAREZ-MACHAIN - Legal Information Institute

Cite as: 542 U. S. ____ (2004) 41Opinion of the Courtnational Protection of Human Rights 39, 50 (E. Luard ed.1967) (quoting Eleanor Roosevelt calling the Declaration“ ‘a statement of principles . . . setting up a common standardof achievement for all peoples and all nations’ ” and“ ‘not a treaty or international agreement . . . impos[ing]legal obligations’ ”). 23 And, although the Covenant doesbind the United States as a matter of international law,the United States ratified the Covenant on the expressunderstanding that it was not self-executing and so didnot itself create obligations enforceable in the federalcourts. See supra, at 33. Accordingly, Alvarez cannot saythat the Declaration and Covenant themselves establishthe relevant and applicable rule of international law. Heinstead attempts to show that prohibition of arbitraryarrest has attained the status of binding customary internationallaw.Here, it is useful to examine Alvarez’s complaint ingreater detail. As he presently argues it, the claim doesnot rest on the cross-border feature of his abduction. 24Although the District Court granted relief in part onfinding a violation of international law in taking Alvarezacross the border from Mexico to the United States, theCourt of Appeals rejected that ground of liability for failureto identify a norm of requisite force prohibiting aforcible abduction across a border. Instead, it relied on theconclusion that the law of the United States did notauthorize Alvarez’s arrest, because the DEA lacked extra-——————23It has nevertheless had substantial indirect effect on internationallaw. See Brownlie, supra, at 535 (calling the Declaration a “goodexample of an informal prescription given legal significance by theactions of authoritative decision-makers”).24Alvarez’s brief contains one footnote seeking to incorporate by referencehis arguments on cross-border abductions before the Court ofAppeals. Brief for Respondent Alvarez-Machain 47, n. 46. That is notenough to raise the question fairly, and we do not consider it.