CRS Report for Congress: Suits Against Terrorist States by Victims of Terrorism: June 7, 2005 - RL31258

In 1996 Congress amended the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) to allow U.S. victims of terrorism to sue certain States responsible for terrorist acts. The terrorist state defendants have refused to appear in court, the courts have handed down large default judgments, the Clinton and Bush Administrations have intervened to block collection on those judgments, and Congress has repeatedly enacted measures to facilitate payment. Further complexity has been added by attempts in one suit to abrogate an international agreement, the enactment of retaliatory legislation in some of the terrorist States, the occupation of Iraq and suspension of its status as a terrorist State, and a proposal to compensate victims through an administrative process. Recently, a court ruled that Congress has never created a cause of action against terrorist States themselves, but only against their officials, employees and agents, and only for their private conduct, not for their official acts. The 107th Congress enacted as part of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 ("TRIA")(P.L. 107-297) a provision that overrides long-standing Administration objections and allows the blocked assets of terrorist States to be used to pay the compensatory damages portions of court judgments against such States; however, the meaning of "blocked ...