Litigation over the right of detained foreign nationals to be notified of their right to seek consular assistance in death penalty cases is important to the more than 80 foreign nationals currently on death row in the United States. It also raises more general questions about the role of international law and of international courts in sensitive criminal cases before national courts. International courts and litigants may enhance the likelihood of compliance in such cases by insisting on fair and deliberate procedures, on transparent and thoroughly articulated reasoning, and on prudent shaping of remedies.