The US Supreme Court will hear two cases on Dec. 7 related to the issue of Holocaust restitution.
The court will decide if the United States has the jurisdiction, in accordance with the 1976 Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, to rule about crimes that happened abroad where there was no American involvement.
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Although foreign governments usually cannot be sued in US courts, exceptions for acts of terrorism or acts of property confiscation violating international law have been made in the past. The plaintiffs in both cases will seek to have their cases heard based on the latter.
"The Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act gives our courts jurisdiction over lawsuits alleging property was taken in violation of international law, for instance, if the perpetrators took it as part of an effort to deliberately create conditions of life which were calculated to destroy a religious or ethnic minority group, and so violated international law by committing genocide," Arthur Traldi, who was of counsel in filing a brief on behalf of the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists in support of the petitioners, said.
