dullard
Elite Member
- May 21, 2001
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Historically, the answer was no (customary international law). No person/corporation in any country could sue another country. The US Supreme Court even ruled that way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Schooner_Exchange_v._M'FaddonThis is a bizarre one - is anyone familiar with the legislation? Do U.S. citizens/corporations have the right to sue foreign governments ordinarily? One poster suggested the answer is yes - if so, what does this bill change exactly?
This seems like a diplomatic nightmare waiting to happen to me. What happens if a foreign government says "fuck off" and ignores the court's orders? Is the federal govt obligated to intervene?
Disputes that related to foreign nations were regulated to the State Department to settle--not the courts.
In the mid-1900s countries started clarifying this custom. The US adopted the Restrictive Theory of Sovereign Immunity that said that foreign states could be sued only for private acts (such as a bad business deal) but not public acts (such as a diplomat in negotiations).
Later the US passed the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act that basically took the matter out of the hands of the State Department and put it into the courts. You can not sue a foreign nation, except for specifically identified reasons listed in that act.
This new law doesn't directly allow other people to sue the US. But, it is the start of a pissing match. Any other country can pass a similar law and then anyone can sue the US. A US missile goes haywire and that foreign country calls it terrorism? Now we can be on the hook in their courts with their laws with their damage amounts if they pass a similar law.
We have just started the equivalent of turning up our stereo full blast just because a neighbor's stereo is too loud. It doesn't solve anything, and potentially escalates the problem to far worse states, but makes you feel temporarily better.