Foreign official immunity refers to international and domestic rules that shield foreign officials from suit. Diplomatic and consular immunity are governed by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, respectively. Under customary international law, “head-of-state” immunity provides absolute immunity to sitting heads of state, heads of government, and foreign ministers, whereas “conduct-based” immunity shields lower-level officials and former officials from suits based on acts taken in their official capacities. In the United States, head-of-state and conduct-based immunity are rules of federal common law.
A Primer on Foreign Official Immunity
Foreign official immunity refers to rules of international and domestic law that shield foreign officials from suit and from criminal prosecution. These rules are related to the rules of foreign sovereign immunity, codified in the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), but they differ from those rules in many respects. Rules of foreign official immunity…
Continue ReadingD.C. Circuit Revives Case by Former Saudi Official with Ties to U.S. Intelligence
Dr. Saad Aljabri, a former Saudi official who lives in Canada, sued Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (“MBS”) and other defendants, alleging that they tracked him down and tried to kill him because of his relationship to the United States and to the former Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. As covered at TLB, federal district…
Continue ReadingThe U.S. Takes the Fight Against Bribery to Foreign Officials
American companies, U.S. issuers, and persons in the United States have long been barred from bribing foreign officials under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). But until December 2023, no U.S. law directly penalized those foreign officials for soliciting or taking bribes. With the enactment of the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA), buried deep within…
Continue ReadingU.S. Brief in Halkbank Abandons Customary International Law in Immunity Cases
In Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. United States (Halkbank), the Supreme Court held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) does not apply to criminal proceedings. The Court remanded Halkbank’s separate claim of common law immunity to the Second Circuit for reconsideration. On November 20, 2023, after two extensions, the United States filed its brief on remand. The U.S….
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