Author

While the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act generally prevents foreign states from being the subject of lawsuits in U.S. courts, countries that have been designated as state sponsors of terrorism by the Secretary of State are exempted from this protection. Judgments entered under this “terrorism exception” already total more than three billion dollars, with a number of suits still pending. These judgments may pose difficulties for future attempts to normalize relations with the defendant countries. In this Note, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross argues that the best method for resolving these outstanding judgments is to terminate them and resubmit the claims to ad hoc international tribunals. Although successful plaintiffs whose judgments are abrogated can bring takings claims against the government, he argues that those claims should be surmountable through a sensible application of takings jurisprudence.