The act of state doctrine provides that U.S. courts will not question the validity of an official act of a foreign government fully performed within its own territory. The act of state doctrine is a doctrine of federal common law that is binding on state courts as well as federal courts. There are several exceptions to the doctrine, including one for expropriations in violation of international law created by Congress in the Second Hickenlooper Amendment, 22 U.S.C. 2370(e)(2).
A Primer on the Act of State Doctrine
The act of state doctrine is a federal common law doctrine providing that courts in the United States will not question the validity of an official act of a recognized foreign government fully performed within its own territory. The doctrine is often applied in cases like Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino (1964) to require…
Continue ReadingUsing TLB to Teach Foreign Relations Law
This post discusses Foreign Relations Law as part of our series explaining how professors can use resources on TLB to teach various classes. Previous posts have discussed Transnational Litigation, Civil Procedure, International Business Transactions, and Conflict of Laws. Although TLB focuses on litigation, and Foreign Relations Law classes cover many topics that are rarely litigated, there is significant…
Continue ReadingWhen Is International Law a Political Question?
In a provocative essay posted on SSRN, The Political Question Doctrine and International Law, TLB Advisor Curt Bradley looks at the historical relationship between the political question doctrine and international law, arguing that “the political question doctrine emerged in part to allow the political branches, rather than the courts, to make determinations about this country’s—and…
Continue ReadingOfficials Who Kidnapped Hotel Rwanda Hero Are Not Immune from Suit
In 1994, Paul Rusesabagina was the manager of a hotel in Kigali, Rwanda. During the genocide, he sheltered 1,268 Hutu and Tutsi refugees, all of whom survived. His courage inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda,” and in 2005 President Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Rusesabagina became a human rights advocate and vocal critic…
Continue ReadingRestatement (Fourth) of Foreign Relations Law § 441
Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino, 376 U.S. 398 (1964)
W.S. Kirkpatrick & Co. v. Environmental Tectonics Corp., Int’l, 493 U.S. 400 (1990)
John Harrison, The American Act of State Doctrine, 47 Geo. J. Int’l L. 507 (2016) (SSRN)
Chimène I. Keitner, Adjudicating Acts of State, in Foreign Affairs Litigation in U.S. Courts 49 (John Norton Moore ed., 2013) (SSRN)
Gregory Fox, Reexamining the Act of State Doctrine: An Integrated Conflicts Analysis, 33 Harv. Int’l L.J. 521 (1992) (Wayne State)
Louis Henkin, Act of State Today, Recollections in Tranquility, 6 Colum. J. Transnat’l L. 175 (1967)