Sanctions and Terrorism

The Need for Greater Immunity from Execution for Central Banks: The Case of Da Afghanistan Bank

Central banks play a crucial role in the global economy. They are responsible for managing monetary policy, regulating financial institutions, maintaining financial stability, and ensuring that a country’s monetary policy aligns with its economic goals. Because of their essential role in the economy, and the sovereign functions that they perform, central banks should have a…

Continue Reading

Open Questions after Halkbank

The Supreme Court held this week in Türkiye Halk Bankasi, A.S. v. United States that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) does not apply to criminal prosecutions. That holding was a blow to Halkbank—a foreign state-owned enterprise under indictment—which had argued that the FSIA provided it with immunity. But the case is not over. The…

Continue Reading

Supreme Court decides Halkbank

The Supreme Court issued its opinion in Halkbank this morning.  The Court held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act does not apply to criminal prosecutions and remanded the case to consider common law immunity.  More coverage soon on TLB.

Continue Reading

Sanctions Against Russia and Section 1782 Discovery

Since the “military operation” in Ukraine began in 2022, Russia has become the most sanctioned country in the world. U.S. blocking and sectoral sanctions now cover numerous Russian entities, especially banks, which were the most active litigants in transnational disputes. The U.S.-Russia relationship is probably at its worst in 30 years, and Russia has officially…

Continue Reading

New Scholarship on Sanctions and Central Bank Immunity

Ingrid has a new paper out on recent developments in central bank immunity, focusing on sanctions by the United States and other countries involving Russian, Afghan, and Venezuelan central bank assets and their relationship to immunity. Some of the issues addressed in the paper involve transnational litigation in U.S. courts, including the entitlement of sovereign…

Continue Reading

District Court Refuses to Let 9/11 Plaintiffs Have Afghan Central Bank Assets

The District Court for the Southern District of New York (Judge George Daniels) has denied the turnover motions filed by judgment creditors against assets of Da Afghanistan Bank (“DAB”) that are held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (“FRBNY”). Judge Daniels’ order and decision, issued on February 21, 2023, adopted the report and…

Continue Reading

Material Support of Terrorism Looms over Supreme Court’s Social Media Case

On February 22, 2023, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Twitter v. Taamneh. The case concerns an act of violence committed by ISIS in a Turkish nightclub in 2017. In bringing suit in the lower courts, plaintiffs alleged that Twitter, Facebook, and Google aided and abetted ISIS’s attack, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §…

Continue Reading

Supreme Court Likely to Shield Internet Platforms from Liability for Terrorist Acts

On February 21 and 22, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two companion cases regarding the liability of internet platforms for terrorists’ use of their services. Gonzalez v. Google concerns the scope of immunity for internet companies under 47 U.S.C § 230, specifically whether that statutory grant of immunity covers a platform’s automated suggestions…

Continue Reading

Throwback Thursday: Forty Years of the Bancec Test

The Supreme Court’s 1983 decision in First National City Bank v. Banco Para El Comercio Exterior de Cuba was saddled with a cumbersome mouthful of a title, one confusingly similar to a 1972 opinion in another important case, First National City Bank v. Banco Nacional de Cuba.  Fortunately, the 1983 decision was quickly dubbed Bancec, an…

Continue Reading

Supreme Court to Consider Tech Companies’ Liability for Terrorism

On February 21 and 22, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in two cases, Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh, that raise questions about how a civil cause of action set forth in the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) applies when known terrorist organizations use social media services. Both cases involve terrorist attacks (in Paris…

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

Robin Effron

Brooklyn Law School
Bio | Posts

Maryam Jamshidi

University of Colorado Law School
Bio | Posts

Fikri Soral

Galatasaray University
Bio | Posts

Gregg Cashmark

Vanderbilt Law School
Bio | Posts

Hannah Buxbaum

Indiana University Maurer School of Law
Bio | Posts

Symeon Symeonides

Willamette University College of Law
Bio | Posts

Aaron D. Simowitz

Willamette University College of Law
Bio | Posts

John B. Bellinger

Arnold & Porter LLP
Bio | Posts

R. Reeves Anderson

Arnold & Porter LLP
Bio | Posts

Volodymyr Ponomarov

Arnold & Porter LLP
Bio | Posts