Germany v. Philipp

Germany v. Philipp
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued December 7, 2020 Decided February 3, 2021
Full case name	Federal Republic of Germany et al. v. Philipp et al.
Docket no.	19-351
Citations	592 U.S. ___ (more)
Argument	Oral argument
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Clarence Thomas · Stephen Breyer Samuel Alito · Sonia Sotomayor Elena Kagan · Neil Gorsuch Brett Kavanaugh · Amy Coney Barrett
Case opinion
Majority	Roberts, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act

Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp, 592 U.S. ___ (2021), was a United States Supreme Court case that dealt with the applicability of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) for heirs of victims of the Holocaust to sue Germany in the United States court systems for compensation for items that were taken by the Nazi Party during World War II. At issue in the case was whether claims fell within the FSIA's exception to sovereign immunity for “property taken in violation of international law,” 28 U.S.C. §1605(a)(3), given that the sovereign here was alleged to have engaged in a taking of its own nationals’ property; and whether courts can invoke the doctrine of international comity under the FSIA to abstain from exercising jurisdiction based on prudential considerations. In a unanimous opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court held that FSIA does not allow these survivors to sue Germany in U.S. court, as the sale was an act of expropriation of property rather than an act of genocide, though other means of recovery are still potentially available.

The decision also resolved a related case, Republic of Hungary v. Simon, which examined the application of the doctrines of international comity and forum non conveniens for expropriation exception cases brought under the FSIA. The Court decided the case per curiam based on the ruling of Germany v. Philipp on February 3, 2021.