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 ReadingCall 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 ReadingRule 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 ReadingSupreme Court CVSGs in Terrorism Case
On January 13, 2025, the Supreme Court called for the views of the Solicitor General in Borochov v. Islamic Republic of Iran. (This is commonly known as a “CVSG.”) The question presented is whether the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act’s (FSIA) exception for state sponsors of terrorism, 28 U.S.C. § 1605A, extends to cases in which…
Continue ReadingA Primer on Service-of-Process Clauses
A service-of-process clause is a contract provision that specifies how a summons and a complaint shall be served upon a person named as a defendant in a U.S. court. This post surveys the issues presented by such provisions. It first discusses the three most common varieties: (1) those that specify a method by which process…
Continue ReadingSDNY Stays Action Based on International Comity
Lower federal courts have developed several forms of abstention based on international comity. Some courts have adopted a doctrine of prescriptive comity abstention to dismiss federal statutory claims when facing a “true conflict” with foreign law. Some have embraced doctrines of adjudicative comity abstention that permit dismissals or stays of federal proceedings in favor of…
Continue ReadingInternational Law in American Courts
In a new book, International Law in American Courts, slated for publication in Summer 2025, I address the status of international law in American courts under the Constitution and the power of those courts directly to apply rules of international law. Readers can find the full manuscript on SSRN here. In this post, I summarize…
Continue ReadingConflict of Laws Workshop
The Second Annual Conflict of Laws Workshop (CLAW) will be hosted by the University of Oklahoma College of Law in Norman, Oklahoma, on May 16, 2024 with a welcome dinner the night before. The CLAW aims to provide a forum to discuss new work in conflict of laws. The CLAW welcomes work on all aspects…
Continue ReadingA Roadmap to Service by Email
Federal courts have struggled with the question of when they can authorize service by email on a defendant located in a country that belongs to the Hague Service Convention—as we have explained in many prior posts. Though the interaction between the Convention and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(f) can be tricky, there are clear…
Continue ReadingDistrict Court Applies Securities Fraud Provision to Foreign Transactions
Does § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act apply to securities on foreign exchanges? Generally, the answer is no. The Supreme Court held in Morrison v. National Australia Bank (2010) that § 10(b)—the Act’s principal antifraud provision—applies only to transactions on U.S. exchanges and to transactions in unlisted securities that occur in the United States….
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