U.S. Supreme Court rejects Iran bank's bid to avoid payout to attack victims
Source: Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that almost $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets must be turned over to American families of people killed in the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut and other attacks blamed on Iran.
The court's 6-2 ruling dealt a setback to Iran's central bank, finding that the U.S. Congress did not usurp the authority of American courts by passing a 2012 law stating that the frozen funds should go toward satisfying a $2.65 billion judgment won by the families against Iran in U.S. federal court in 2007.
Bank Markazi had challenged a 2014 ruling by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the money, held in a Citibank trust account in New York, should be handed over to the American plaintiffs.
The ruling, written by liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, said the U.S. Congress did not violate the separation of powers principle enshrined in the U.S. Constitution that gives specific authority to the government's executive, legislative and judicial branches.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-iran-idUSKCN0XH1R6
Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)katsy
(4,246 posts)I want the families of 911 to be able to sue the Saudis also. Fairness.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)And 6-2. Don't really see those much these days. Roberts and Sotomayor in dissent.
Calista241
(5,586 posts)The most liberal and most conservative justices were in concurrence, and 2 more centrist judges were in dissent.
Sometimes I'm amazed at how these things turn out.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)iandhr
(6,852 posts)Redwoods Red
(137 posts)Suits like this could impoverish our military industrial complex.