Republic of Sudan v. Harrison

In 2000, a United States Navy vessel, the USS Cole, in Yemen suffered a terrorist attack by al-Qaeda. Dozens of crew members were injured, and 17 crewmembers died from the attack. Victims and their family members (plaintiffs) sued the Republic of Sudan (defendant) under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (the act), alleging that Sudan provided support to al-Qaeda. The court clerk addressed the service of process to Sudan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. The court clerk received a signed receipt indicating service of process had been accepted. Sudan failed to appear in the district court, so the district court entered a default judgment for the victims and their family members. The judge issued orders that required banks to turn over assets of Sudan to pay the default judgment. Sudan appealed these orders, arguing that the default judgment was invalid for lack of personal jurisdiction. Sudan asserted that the act required service of process to be made at the foreign minister’s principal office in Sudan, not the embassy. The court of appeals affirmed the district court, concluding that the act was silent regarding where service of process must be made and that the service of process made to the embassy was consistent with the act and was reasonably expected to result in delivery to the foreign minister as required. Sudan appealed. In an amicus curiae brief in support of Sudan, the United States Department of Justice argued that the district court lacked personal jurisdiction over Sudan. The Supreme Court granted cert.