[better source needed][1][2] The Court held that Breard would not receive a stay of execution and/or other relief under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, thus confirming the constitutional law principle that a Senate-ratified treaty may be overridden by a later domestic statute enacted by Congress.

Ultimately, Breard filed a motion for habeas relief in Federal District Court, alleging that arresting authorities violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations when they failed to inform him that, as a foreign national, he had the right to contact the Paraguayan Consulate.

The majority of the Court concluded that, because he had procedurally defaulted it, Breard could not raise his Vienna Convention claim on federal habeas corpus review.

Moreover, the Court reasoned that Breard could not have demonstrated that the alleged violation of the Vienna Convention had an effect on his state trial that ought to have resulted in the overturning of his conviction.

Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer, in separate dissents, argued that the Court ought to have granted the stay applications and considered the merits of the case to different degrees.