The Dog that Caught the Car: Observations on the Past, Present, and Future Approaches of the
The Supreme Court’s decision in Samantar v. Yousuf vindicated the position of the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser, which had long argued that the immunities of current and former foreign government officials in U.S. courts are defined by common law and customary international law as articulated by the Executive branch, rather than by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976. But the decision will place a burden on the Office of the Legal Adviser, which will