Thread by @BBuchman_CNS

.@Scotus coverage today - Sudan v. Harrison
THREAD -
Justices weigh arguments which are interesting though wonky: Do people suing a foreign government under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act serve process to...
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@CourthouseNews

the country's head of foreign affairs by sending it to the country's embassy or must they must serve the country at its foreign affairs agency?

The question stems from a matter involving service members who were injured during the bombing of the USS Cole 18 years ago.
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Injured service members were awarded a default judgment of $315M at court in D.C. The judgment was eventually registered in NY so Sudanese assets could be accessed from banks there. That prompted Sudan to appeal the judgment and claim they were never served properly.
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The Sudanese gov't claimed the serving process at their embassy violated a number of diplomatic terms found in the Immunities Act and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
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What makes todays argument interesting: The US doesn't currently recognize service through its embassies overseas but if it supports a ruling finding that a foreign state CAN be served this way, it could create a 'good for goose/gander' scenario for US internationally.
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As it stands now, the U.S. govt *IS* arguing on the side of Sudan regarding merits of the service question, saying the lower court was wrong and complaints must be sent to the Sudanese ministry of foreign affairs in Sudan.
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Here's some background on this in the archives: courthousenews.com/sudan-asset-at…
I'll have a story up later today. Stay tuned.