U.S. Supreme Court Rules International Organizations Do Not Have Broader Immunity than Foreign Governments (February 27, 2019) [1]
On February 27, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled [3] in Jam v. International Finance Corp. that under the International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945 [4] (IOIA), international organizations are afforded the same immunity from suit given to foreign governments under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 [5] (FSIA). The question before the Court was whether the IOIA, “which affords international organizations the ‘same immunity’ from suit that foreign governments have,” grants international organizations immunity equivalent to that which foreign states were entitled in 1945, or if it has been altered along with the immunity of foreign governments since then, and consequently decreased over time. In 1945 “foreign governments were entitled to virtually absolute immunity,” while today, under the FSIA, foreign government presumptive immunity is “subject to several statutory exceptions, including, as relevant here, an exception for actions based on commercial activity with a sufficient nexus with the United States.” The Court held that the “IOIA ‘same as’ formulation is best understood as making international organization immunity and foreign sovereign continuously equivalent,” but declined to state that the lending activity of development banks qualifies as commercial activity under the FSIA, and noted that “even if it does qualify as commercial, that does not mean the organization is automatically subject to suit, since other FSIA requirements must also be met.” The Court reversed the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit and remanded it for further proceedings.