The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act at 50
The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) turns 50 this year. To celebrate the anniversary, the George Washington Law Review is hosting a symposium about the FSIA on October 8-9. The event is free, and those interested in attending are encouraged to register here. The event kicks off at 4:00 on Thursday, October 8, with an…
Continue ReadingFallout from Cisco in Human Rights Cases, Part II: Cisco on Remand
It is no surprise that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Cisco Systems Inc. v. Doe (2026), which closed the door on modern human rights claims under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), is impacting cases in the lower courts. Yesterday, I discussed the impact on Al Shimari v. CACI Premier Technology, Inc., where the Fourth…
Continue ReadingFallout from Cisco in Human Rights Cases, Part I: Al Shimari
As regular readers know, last June the U.S. Supreme Court closed the door on modern human rights claims under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), holding in Cisco Systems Inc. v. Doe (2026) that the ATS’s implied cause of action does not cover such claims. In two posts, today and tomorrow, I consider recent lower-court developments…
Continue ReadingRecognizing Foreign Judgments: Of Personal Jurisdiction, Collateral Estoppel, and Judicial Discretion
In the United States, the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments is generally governed by state law. State law is largely uniform throughout the United States because most states have adopted one of two Uniform Acts. The acts raise fascinating questions of interpretation, and Judge Margaret M. Garnett (Southern District of New York) faced several…
Continue ReadingD.C. Circuit Holds Jurisdictional Discovery in FSIA Cases Not Immediately Appealable
Last Friday, August 14, 2026, the D.C. Circuit held in Rodriguez v. Pan American Health Organization that international organizations, and by extension foreign states, cannot immediately appeal district court orders for jurisdictional discovery aimed at determining if they are immune from suit. (Disclosure: I joined an amicus brief urging the court to take this position.)…
Continue ReadingUsing TLB to Teach International Business Transactions (2026 Update)
As the fall semester gets underway, we are updating our posts on using resources on TLB to teach various classes. This post discusses International Business Transactions (IBT). Although TLB focuses on litigation and IBT focuses on transactions, there is a great deal of overlap. The most obvious examples are contractual clauses that plan for dispute resolution,…
Continue ReadingEleventh Circuit Applies Fuld in Helms-Burton Case
On July 23, 2026, in Rodriguez v. Imperial Brands, PLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit upheld the dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction of claims against two British corporations under the Helms-Burton Act for trafficking in property expropriated by Cuba. The opinion is one of the first by a circuit court…
Continue ReadingFourth Circuit Reaffirms Lack of Official Immunity for Jus Cogens Violations
On July 8, 2026, the Fourth Circuit held in Kuiper v. Reyes Mena that a former colonel in the Salvadoran Army is not immune from suit for the extrajudicial killings of Dutch journalists in 1982 during El Salvador’s civil war. Writing for a unanimous panel, Judge Paul V. Neimeyer reaffirmed the circuit’s holding in Yousuf…
Continue ReadingCIMEX’s Implications for Foreign Official Immunity in TVPA Cases
In Exxon Mobil Corp v. Corporación CIMEX, S.A. (Cuba), the Supreme Court held that Congress, by creating a cause of action against agencies and instrumentalities of foreign states, abrogated the immunity from suit that an instrumentality of Cuba would otherwise have enjoyed under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). (For analysis, see here.) The Court relied on…
Continue ReadingSeventh Circuit Upholds Dismissal of TVPRA Claims Against Neil Gaiman on Forum Non Conveniens Grounds
On June 29, 2026, in Pavlovich v. Gaiman, the Seventh Circuit upheld the dismissal of claims against author Neil Gaiman for sex trafficking and forced labor under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) on grounds of forum non conveniens, concluding that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it held that New…
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