Document Type

Testimony

Publication Date

9-22-2010

Keywords

Holocaust, Holocaust-era insurance, President of the United States, executive agreements, international law, International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims

Abstract

The testimony explores the essential legal issue of the extent to which executive agreements related to H.R. 4596 have any force as law in the United States. The agreements made it clear that they did not, by themselves, “provide an independent legal basis for dismissal” of claims of Holocaust victims filed in any courts of the United States. Instead, the executive branch simply agreed to file a “statement of interest” in such lawsuits to the effect “that U.S. policy interests favor dismissal on any valid legal ground.” Some lower courts have nonetheless given the statements of interest preemptive effect as federal law. The testimony criticizes these court opinions to provide a legal context for HR 4596.

Disciplines

Constitutional Law | International Law | Law | Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration

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