Opati v. Republic of Sudan

Opati v. Republic of Sudan
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued February 24, 2020 Decided May 18, 2020
Full case name	Monicah Okoba Opati, In Her Own Right, and as Executrix of the Estate of Caroline Setla Opati, Deceased, et al., Petitioners v. Republic of Sudan, et al.
Docket no.	17-1268
Citations	590 U.S. 418 (more) 140 S. Ct. 1601
Case history
Prior	Owens v. Republic of Sudan, 374 F. Supp. 2d 1 (D.D.C. 2005); 412 F. Supp. 2d 99 (D.D.C. 2006), affirmed, 531 F.3d 884 (D.C. Cir. 2008); cert. granted, 139 S. Ct. 2771 (2019).
Holding
Plaintiffs in a federal cause of action under Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act §1605A(c) may seek punitive damages for preenactment conduct.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan Neil Gorsuch · Brett Kavanaugh
Case opinion
Majority	Gorsuch, joined by Roberts, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan
Kavanaugh took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act

Opati v. Republic of Sudan, 590 U.S. 418 (2020), was a United States Supreme Court case involving the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act with its 2008 amendments, whether plaintiffs in federal lawsuits against foreign countries may seek punitive damages for cause of actions prior to enactment of the amended law, with the specific case dealing with victims and their families from the 1998 United States embassy bombings. The Court ruled unanimously in May 2020 that punitive damages can be sought from foreign nations in such cases for preenactment conduct.