US Supreme Court questions Holocaust restitution lawsuit against Hungary

A majority of US Supreme Court justices expressed doubts about allowing Holocaust victims and their families to sue Hungary in American courts to recover property stolen during World War II, as they debated the case of Hungary v. Simon in early December.

According to CNN, part of the reasoning rested on the fact that such a ruling could make America liable for similar cases.

Hungary v. Simon has been under debate for nearly 15 years. The case reached the Supreme Court in 2021, where justices suggested that the plaintiffs—more than a dozen Holocaust victims and their families—should first seek recourse in Hungarian courts before pursuing the case in a US court.

Shay Dvoretzky, who is currently representing the families, told the Supreme Court that Hungary “stole respondents’ property while forcing them onto cattle cars” before selling that property to buy equipment in the United States.

“It put into the United States property that had been exchanged for the expropriated property,” Dvoretzky said. 

While foreign nations generally have immunity preventing parties from suing them in domestic courts, the United States federal law allows an exception when what was stolen is present in the US.

According to CNN, the families have argued that they should qualify for the exception because they believe that the liquidated property was partially spent in the US.

Justices across the aisle expressed skepticism

“This is really just throwing out the whole sovereign immunity principles under which the rest of the world operates,” Chief Justice John Roberts said, as cited by CNN, “Congress had in mind a much narrower exception than that.”

“No other country in the world has an expropriation exception to begin with, right?” Justice Brett Kavanaugh added, “It’s a big deal to haul a foreign country into US court.”

Several of the court’s more liberal justices also had reservations with the families’ argument.

“Doesn’t this provide a roadmap to any country that wants to expropriate property?” Justice Elena Kagan asked Joshua Glasgow, the attorney representing Hungary. 

“In other words, just sell the property, put it into your national treasury – insulate yourself from all claims for all time?”

Last year, a federal appeals court in Washington, DC, sided with the victims, and Hungary appealed to the Supreme Court a second time.

Currently, a decision in the case of Hungary v. Simon is expected next year.