Helms-Burton’s Statute of Repose

Helms-Burton plaintiffs just can’t seem to catch a break. They have struggled to establish personal jurisdiction over foreign defendants, run into issues of foreign sovereign immunity, and found that their property rights have expired. Now, the Second Circuit has held that the Helms-Burton Act’s statute of repose blocks claims more than two years old. Congress…

Continue Reading

Recent Posts

Foreign States are “Persons”: CC/Devas v. Antrix Amicus Brief

The Supreme Court may soon resolve an important constitutional question: whether foreign states are “persons” entitled to Fifth Amendment due process. For those who engage seriously with the text, history, and structure of the Constitution, there is a ready answer: yes, foreign states are “persons.” The scope of the “process” to which foreign states are…

Continue Reading

Interpreting Choice-of-Law Clauses Waiving Sovereign Immunity

The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act provides that a foreign state shall not be immune if it has “waived its immunity either explicitly or by implication.” Over the past forty years, U.S. courts have consistently held that a choice-of-law clause selecting the law of a U.S. state constitutes an implied waiver of foreign sovereign immunity. In…

Continue Reading

Business and Human Rights Litigation

On January 22-24, 2025, the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at Mansfield College, Oxford, hosted a roundtable on business and human rights litigation. The roundtable discussed draft chapters for the Cambridge Handbook on Business and Human Rights Litigation, edited by Hassan Ahmad, Ekaterina Aristova, and Rachel Chambers, which is slated for publication next year. The…

Continue Reading

Choice of Law in the American Courts in 2024

The thirty-eighth annual survey on choice of law in the American courts is now available on SSRN. The survey covers significant cases decided in 2024 on choice of law, party autonomy, extraterritoriality, international human rights, foreign sovereign immunity, adjudicative jurisdiction, and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. This annual survey was admirably maintained by Symeon Symeonides for…

Continue Reading

Cisco’s Cert Petition

Last Friday, January 31, 2025, Cisco Systems filed a petition for certiorari asking the Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Doe v. Cisco Systems, Inc. (2023), a decision holding that claims of aiding and abetting may be brought under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA). As more…

Continue Reading

Extraterritoriality in Comparative Perspective

Extraterritoriality has been on the outs with the Roberts Court, which has curtailed the reach of U.S. trademark, human rights, securities, and racketeering laws via the presumption against extraterritoriality. But globally, extraterritoriality may be on the rise. Countries have flexed their extraterritorial muscles to address data privacy, human rights, competition law, tax base erosion, and…

Continue Reading

CC/Devas (Mauritius) Limited v. Antrix Corp.: International Arbitration and Constitutional Avoidance

I suspect that CC/Devas (Mauritius) Limited v. Antrix Corp. Ltd. caught the eye of the Supreme Court because of an interesting constitutional question: Does the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment apply in civil suits brought against foreign states in U.S. courts? More than thirty years ago, Justice Scalia, writing for a unanimous Court…

Continue Reading

Call for Papers: International Law in Domestic Courts

The next International Law in Domestic Courts (ILDC) Workshop will be held at the George Washington University on Friday, May 23, 2025. The ILDC is an interest group of the American Society of International Law. Its purpose is to promote dialogue among scholars and lawyers who are interested in issues pertaining to the application of…

Continue Reading

Rule 19 and Continuing Litigation in Peterson v. Bank Markazi

Last November, the Second Circuit decided in Peterson v. Bank Markazi that Bank Markazi, Iran’s Central Bank, remained immune from suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act (FSIA) despite the enactment of 22 U.S.C. § 8772, which subjects certain Iranian assets to “execution or attachment” to satisfy judgments against Iran. The district court will now…

Continue Reading

Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk

Vanderbilt Law School
ingrid.wuerth@vanderbilt.eduEmail

William Dodge

George Washington University Law School
william.dodge@law.gwu.eduEmail

Maggie Gardner

Cornell Law School
mgardner@cornell.eduEmail

John F. Coyle

University of North Carolina School of Law
jfcoyle@email.unc.eduEmail

Zachary D. Clopton

Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
zclopton@law.northwestern.eduEmail

Paul B. Stephan

University of Virginia School of Law
Bio | Posts

Caroline Spencer

Vanderbilt Law School
Bio | Posts

Gary Born

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
Bio | Posts

Robert Kry

MoloLamken LLP
Bio | Posts

Luana Matoso

Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law
Bio | Posts

Curtis A. Bradley

University of Chicago Law School
Bio | Posts

Pamela K. Bookman

Fordham University School of Law
Bio | Posts

Matthew Salavitch

Fordham Law School
Bio | Posts

Hannah Buxbaum

Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Bio | Posts