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Statutory Canon Aimed at International
Organization Immunity
Updated March 4, 2019
Update: The Supreme Court on February 27 issued its 7-1 opinion in Jam v. International Finance Corp,
holding in favor ofthe petitioners and reversing the decision below. ChiefJustice Roberts wrote that
[t]he IOIA should ... be understood to link the law of international organization immunity to the law of
foreign sovereign immunity, so that the one develops in tandem with the other The Court found the
reference canon supported its plain text reading of the statute.
The original post from October 5, 2018, follows below.
In the October 2018 term, the Supreme Court is slated to hear oral argument in Jam v. International
Finance Corp., a case involving an international development project gone awry in India. The
petitioners-a group of Indian nationals from Gujarat-seek to hold International Finance Corp. (IFC)
liable for extensive environmental damage throughout their community caused by the construction of a
power plant financed and overseen by IFC. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (D.C. Circuit)
dismissed their lawsuit, holding, in accordance with the circuit's precedent, that the International
Organizations Immunities Act (IOIA) grants absolute immunity to IFC in this case. The IOIA, in relevant
part, states that:
International organizations, their property and their assets, wherever located, and by whomsoever
held, shall enjoy the same immunity from suit and every form of judicial process as is enjoyed by
foreign governments, except to the extent that such organizations may expressly waive their
immunity for the purpose of any proceedings or by the terms of any contract.
The issue before the Court is whether the same immunity from suit ... as is enjoyed by foreign
governments means the immunity foreign states enjoyed at the time of the statute's 1945 enactment-
which the D.C. Circuit described as absolute-or the more restrictive form of immunity that applies
today under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). Under the FSIA, foreign governments are
immune from lawsuits unless a statutory exception applies, including an exception for commercial
activity carried out by foreign states in the United States, among others. The proper measure of
immunity in this case could potentially turn on the canons of statutory interpretation the Court could
choose to apply to discern Congress's intent.
The petitioners argued at the D.C. Circuit that Congress intended in enacting the IOIA that the form of
immunity it granted to international organizations in 1945 would change along with developments in
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