438
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
"to terminate all legal proceedings in United States courts involving claims of United States persons and institutions against Iran and its state enterprises, to nullify all attachments and judgments obtained therein, to prohibit all further litigation based on such claims, and to bring about the termination of such claims through binding arbitration." Ibid. (internal quotation marks omitted).
In line with these firm commitments, the Court held that the agreement and the executive order implementing it validly "suspended" litigation in United States courts against Iranian interests. See id., at 686-688.
Notably, the Court in Dames & Moore was emphatic about the "narrowness" of its decision. Id., at 688. "We do not decide," the Court cautioned, "that the President possesses plenary power to settle claims, even as against foreign governmental entities." Ibid. Before sustaining the President's action, the Court determined: (1) Congress "had implicitly approved" the practice of claim settlement by executive agreement, id., at 680; (2) the alternative forum created under the executive agreement was "capable of providing meaningful relief," id., at 687; (3) Congress had not in any way disapproved or resisted the President's action, id., at 687-688; and (4) the settlement of claims was "a necessary incident to the resolution of a major foreign policy dispute between our country and another," id., at 688.
Together, Belmont, Pink, and Dames & Moore confirm that executive agreements directed at claims settlement may sometimes preempt state law. The Court states that if the executive "agreements here had expressly preempted laws like HVIRA, the issue would be straightforward." Ante, at 416-417. One can safely demur to that statement, for, as the Court acknowledges, no executive agreement before us expressly preempts the HVIRA. Ante, at 417. Indeed, no agreement so much as mentions the HVIRA's sole concern: public disclosure.
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