Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
- Publication
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Law
Samantar And Executive Power, Peter B. Rutledge
Samantar And Executive Power, Peter B. Rutledge
Scholarly Works
This essay examines Samantar v. Yousuf in the context of broader debate about the relationship between federal common law and executive power. Samantar represents simply the latest effort by the Executive Branch to literally shape the meaning of law through a process referred to in the literature as “executive lawmaking.” While traditional accounts of executive lawmaking typically have treated the idea as a singular concept, Samantar demonstrates the need to bifurcate the concept into at least two different categories: acts of executive lawmaking decoupled from pending litigation and acts of executive lawmaking taken expressly in response to litigation. As Samantar …
Samantar, Official Immunity And Federal Common Law, Peter B. Rutledge
Samantar, Official Immunity And Federal Common Law, Peter B. Rutledge
Scholarly Works
This essay examines the theoretical underpinnings of the immunity of foreign government officials following the Supreme Court's recent decision in Samantar. Part of a forthcoming symposium with the Lewis and Clark Law Review, the paper tackles the federal common law in the Court's decision and, more broadly, international civil litigation. It criticizes the Court's unexamined assumption that its federal common law power extended to create an immunity that, at best, coexists only uncomfortably alongside the legislative framework of the FSIA. It explains the problematic implications of this assertion of federal common law, both for suits against foreign officials and for …
Foreign Official Immunity Determinations In U.S. Courts: The Case Against The State Department, Ingrid Wuerth Brunk
Foreign Official Immunity Determinations In U.S. Courts: The Case Against The State Department, Ingrid Wuerth Brunk
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The immunity of foreign states from suit in U.S. courts is governed by a federal statute, the Foreign Soveriegn Immunities Act (FSIA). This statute does not apply to the immunity of individual foreign officials, however, as the Supreme Court recently held in Samantar v. Yousuf Instead, the Court reasoned, the immunity of foreign government officials is controlled by common law. But there is no extant body offederal or state common law governing foreign official immunity, and the Court did not clarify how this law should be developed going forward. The State Department claims that it holds constitutional power to make …
Foreign Official Immunity After Samantar, Chimene I. Keitner
Foreign Official Immunity After Samantar, Chimene I. Keitner
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
In Samantar v. Yousuf, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSLA) does not govern the immunity of foreign officials from legal proceedings in U.S. courts. Part I of this symposium contribution seeks to put in sharper focus exactly what is, and what is not, in dispute following Samantar. Part II presents three challenges to common assumptions about conduct-based immunity, which I consider under the headings of personal responsibility, penalties, and presence. Under the heading of personal responsibility, I emphasize that state responsibility and individual responsibility are not mutually exclusive. Under penalties, I argue that …
Head-Of-State And Foreign Official Immunity In The United States After Samantar: A Suggested Approach, Christopher Totten
Head-Of-State And Foreign Official Immunity In The United States After Samantar: A Suggested Approach, Christopher Totten
Faculty and Research Publications
This Article consists of four parts. Part I addresses the US approach to immunity for current and former foreign heads of state as well as the related issue of foreign official immunity. Part I includes a discussion of the 2010 US Supreme Court case of Samantar, which addresses foreign official immunity. Part II explores head-of-state and official immunity under international law, including a discussion of Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Belgium decided by the International Court of Justice ("ICJ"), the Charles Taylor immunity decision of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the ongoing case by the ICC against Sudanese …
Apportioning Responsibility Among Joint Tortfeasors For International Law Violations, Roger P. Alford
Apportioning Responsibility Among Joint Tortfeasors For International Law Violations, Roger P. Alford
Journal Articles
With the new wave of claims against corporations for human rights violations – particularly in the context of aiding and abetting government abuse – there are unusually difficult problems of joint tortfeasor liability. In many circumstances, one tortfeasor – the corporation – is a deep-pocketed defendant, easily subject to suit, but only marginally involved in the unlawful conduct. Another tortfeasor – the sovereign – is a central player in the unlawful conduct, but, with limited exceptions, is immune from suit under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. A third tortfeasor – the low-level security personnel – accused of actually committing the …