350
Syllabus
it exercises only those powers that can also be exercised by private citizens, rather than those powers peculiar to sovereigns, id., at 614. The intentional conduct alleged here (the Saudi Government's wrongful arrest, imprisonment, and torture of Nelson) boils down to abuse of the power of the police. However monstrous such abuse undoubtedly may be, a foreign state's exercise of that power has long been understood for purposes of the restrictive theory as peculiarly sovereign in nature. The Nelsons' argument that respondent husband's mistreatment constituted retaliation for his reporting of safety violations, and was therefore commercial in character, does not alter the fact that the powers allegedly abused were those of police and penal officers. In any event, that argument goes to the purpose of petitioners' conduct, which the Act explicitly renders irrelevant to the determination of an activity's commercial character. Pp. 358-363. (c) The Nelsons' attempt to claim failure to warn is merely a semantic ploy. A plaintiff could recast virtually any claim of intentional tort committed by sovereign act as a claim of failure to warn. To give jurisdictional significance to this feint of language would effectively thwart the Act's manifest purpose to codify the restrictive theory of foreign sovereign immunity. Cf. United States v. Shearer, 473 U. S. 52, 54-55 (opinion of Burger, C. J.). P. 363.
923 F. 2d 1528, reversed.
Souter, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist, C. J., and O'Connor, Scalia, and Thomas, JJ., joined, and in which Kennedy, J., joined except for the last paragraph of Part II. White, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Blackmun, J., joined, post, p. 364. Kennedy, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which Blackmun and Stevens, JJ., joined as to Parts I-B and II, post, p. 370. Blackmun, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part, post, p. 376. Stevens, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 377.
Everett C. Johnson, Jr., argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs were Mark E. Newell and Marc Cooper.
Jeffrey P. Minear argued the cause for the United States as amicus curiae urging reversal. With him on the brief were Solicitor General Starr, Assistant Attorney General Gerson, Deputy Solicitor General Roberts, Douglas Letter, and Edwin D. Williamson.
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