Genevieve Ann-Marie Yapp v. Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States of America

The majority opinion, in the course of interpreting the treaty language at issue, has improved it. I describe the majority’s modification of the 1931 Extradition Treaty as an “improvement” because the contracting states obviously view it as such. That much is clear from their recent negotiation and *1569adoption of a new extradition treaty, not retroactively applicable to this case, which incorporates textual revisions similar in result to those that the majority opinion effects through its interpretation of the original treaty. Contracting states are free to alter or amend treaty language in any…