[1] An interstate compact, which was joined by the Federal Government among almost all other states, set forth procedures as to how this process was to be done.

The case concerned a specific provision which says that once the prisoner arrives in the receiving state, he must be tried within 120 days.

After court preliminaries, the next day he was returned to federal prison and then brought back to Alabama for trial.

The trial judge rejected a petition to dismiss the charges for a violation of the Interstate Compact and a divided Alabama Supreme Court reversed.

Justice Breyer explained the question as a simple issue of the exact language in the statute.