The question
Whether the Helms-Burton Act itself abrogates the sovereign immunity of Cuban agencies and instrumentalities, so that plaintiffs suing them under the Act need not also satisfy one of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's enumerated exceptions.
Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Corporación Cimex, S. A. (Cuba)
What the Court decided
The Court held that the Helms-Burton Act itself abrogates the sovereign immunity of Cuban agencies and instrumentalities. A U.S. national suing a Cuban agency or instrumentality under the Act does not also have to satisfy one of the FSIA's enumerated exceptions to foreign sovereign immunity. The reason is that the Act creates a cause of action that expressly runs against Cuban agencies and instrumentalities, and under the Court's precedents a statute whose cause of action explicitly applies against a sovereign waives that sovereign's immunity even without a separate waiver provision.
How the justices split
6-3The Court's opinion
Kavanaugh, joined by Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Barrett
The Helms-Burton Act clearly abrogates the foreign sovereign immunity of Cuban agencies and instrumentalities, so a plaintiff need not also invoke an FSIA exception. A congressional waiver must be clearly discernible from the sum total of Congress's work, and four points taken together satisfy that standard here. Under the Court's precedents, a statute creating a cause of action that explicitly applies against a sovereign waives that sovereign's immunity even without a separate waiver provision. Section 6082(a)(1)(A) confers a private right of action for U.S. nationals whose property was confiscated by the Cuban Government against any person that traffics in the property, and Section 6023(11) defines person to include any agency or instrumentality of a foreign state.
Dissenting
Kagan, joined by Sotomayor, Jackson
Filed a dissenting opinion disagreeing that the Helms-Burton Act abrogates the sovereign immunity of Cuban agencies and instrumentalities without satisfying an FSIA exception. The specific reasoning is not set out in the provided syllabus text.
How we know · 5 sourced claims
The Court held that the Helms-Burton Act itself abrogates the sovereign immunity of Cuban agencies and instrumentalities.
Source: syllabus, Held
Plaintiffs who sue Cuban agencies or instrumentalities under the Act need not also satisfy one of the FSIA's enumerated exceptions to foreign sovereign immunity.
Source: syllabus, Held
A congressional waiver of sovereign immunity must be clearly discernible from the sum total of Congress's work.
Source: syllabus, Held
A statute creating a cause of action that explicitly applies against a sovereign waives that sovereign's immunity even without a separate waiver provision.
Source: syllabus, Held
Kavanaugh delivered the opinion of the Court, joined by Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Barrett; Kagan filed a dissent joined by Sotomayor and Jackson.
Source: syllabus, lineup