Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA)
46 Articles
NSO Group Loses Immunity Claim at the Ninth Circuit
In 2019, the messaging platform WhatsApp sued NSO Group, alleging that the Israeli company sent spyware through WhatsApp’s servers to approximately 1,400 mobile devises in violation…
Parsing an Immunity Decision at the Heart of U.S.-Egypt Relations
A suit between a US citizen and the former PM of Egypt raises sticky questions of diplomatic immunity - and tees up a potential constitutional clash between the executive and judiciary.…
The Meaning of the Supreme Court’s Ruling in Germany v. Philipp
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court decided Germany v. Philipp, a Holocaust expropriation case brought under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). Writing for a unanimous Court,…
Suing Foreign States in U.S. Courts
Since the enactment of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) in 1976, foreign sovereigns have become subject to a number of statutory exceptions to immunity in U.S. courts.…
Trail Smelter Arbitration Offers Little Guidance for COVID-19 Suits against China
On June 23, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary held an extraordinary hearing on whether to amend the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) in order to permit domestic lawsuits…
The Significance of the Supreme Court’s Opati Decision for States and Companies Sued for Terrorism in U.S. Courts
On Monday, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Opati v. Republic of Sudan opening the door to victims of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam to pursue…
How to Hold Venezuela’s Maduro Accountable for Human Rights Abuses
The Trump administration's focus on the regime’s corruption, manipulation of the election process, and narco-terrorism omits other egregious violations.
Missouri’s Lawsuit Doesn’t Abrogate China’s Sovereign Immunity
U.S. courts do not have jurisdiction over private class action lawsuits brought against Chinese government defendants for their alleged misconduct in allowing the coronavirus to…
WhatsApp v. NSO Group: State Immunity and Cyber Spying
WhatsApp claims NSO implanted spyware on phones of human rights activists, lawyers, and religious figures. NSO says it can't be sued if it did so on behalf of (undisclosed) foreign…
Don’t Bother Suing China for Coronavirus
"Simply put, any scholar or practitioner with working knowledge of the law of foreign sovereign immunity would have taken one look at the headlines about these lawsuits (as I did)…
Suit Against Sri Lankan Presidential Candidate Rajapaksa Dismissed on Common Law Immunity Grounds
Among other deficiencies, the ruling failed to acknowledge jurisprudence from other courts indicating that jus cogens violations can never constitute “official” acts entitling…
Second Circuit Gets Civil Forfeiture under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act Wrong
Are foreign states and their property immune from civil forfeiture suits brought by the U.S.? In a case involving a Manhattan skyscraper controlled by Iran, the Second Circuit…