By Haggai Carmon

Can Americans sue present-day Iraq for injustices committed against them by the Saddam Hussein government? The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on June 8, 2009 that they cannot.

The question arose because the U.S. considered Iraq to be a state sponsor of terrorism under Hussein, and the 1996 exception to the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act says that state sponsors of terrorism forfeit their immunity to U.S. civil lawsuits.

The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the current Iraqi government’s argument that Iraq regained its immunity when Hussein was ousted from power in 2003. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing the court’s opinion, said “Iraq’s sovereign immunity was restored when the president exercised his authority to make inapplicable with respect to Iraq any provision of law that applies to countries that have supported terrorism.”

Plaintiffs had sued Iraq for illegal detention and torture.