III 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. CON. RES. 48 

Expressing the sense of Congress that the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation 

should domesticate and recognize judgments issued by United States 

courts on behalf of United States victims of terrorism, and that the 

Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs should cease its political interference 

with Italy’s independent judiciary, which it carries out in the interests 

of state sponsors of terrorism such as the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 14, 2016 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Mr. KIRK, and Mr. MURPHY) submitted the 

following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Relations 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of Congress that the Italian Supreme 

Court of Cassation should domesticate and recognize 

judgments issued by United States courts on behalf of 

United States victims of terrorism, and that the Italian 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs should cease its political 

interference with Italy’s independent judiciary, which it 

carries out in the interests of state sponsors of terrorism 

such as the Islamic Republic of Iran. 

Whereas, in 1996, Congress passed the Terrorism Exception 

to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to give United 

States citizens a private means of redress for injuries and 

deaths caused by state-sponsored acts of terrorism (origiVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:57 Jul 15, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SC48.IS SC48

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•SCON 48 IS 

nally codified at section 1605(a)(7) of title 28, United 

States Code and subsequently amended and recodified at 

section 1605A of title 28, United States Code) (in this 

resolution referred to as the ‘‘Terrorism Exception’’); 

Whereas the Terrorism Exception continues to be an important tool for the United States Government to protect the 

interests of its nationals, and to deter global terrorism; 

Whereas the families of Alisa Flatow, Sarah Duker, and Matthew Eisenfeld, United States students killed in Iransponsored bombings, secured judgments against the Islamic Republic of Iran in United States Federal court for 

its role in those murders; 

Whereas the families of Alisa Flatow, Sarah Duker, and Matthew Eisenfeld attempted to enforce those United States 

judgments against Iranian assets held in Italy; 

Whereas the families of Alisa Flatow, Sarah Duker, and Matthew Eisenfeld initially domesticated their judgments in 

Italian court; 

Whereas the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs entered appearances in subsequent proceedings on behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran, interfering with the domestication 

and successfully causing the Italian Supreme Court of 

Cassation (Italy’s highest court of appeal) to overturn the 

Court of Appeals of Rome’s judgment in favor of these 

United States terrorism victims (Islamic Republic of Iran 

v. Flatow, Cass., sez. un., 22 giugno 2007, n. 14570 

(It.); Islamic Republic of Iran v. Eisenfeld, Cass., sez. 

un., 22 giugno 2007, n. 14571 (It.)); 

Whereas the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation condemned 

the Terrorism Exception—a crucial United States 

antiterrorism statute—as a violation of international law 


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•SCON 48 IS 

on the grounds that it gives United States citizens a remedy for acts of terrorism committed outside of the United 

States (Flatow v. Islamic Republic of Iran, Cass., sez. 

un., 28 ottobre 2015, n. 21946 (It.); Eisenfeld v. Islamic 

Republic of Iran, Cass., sez. un., 28 ottobre 2015, n. 

21947 (It.)); 

Whereas the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation therefore refuses to recognize any judgments issued by United States 

courts under the Terrorism Exception (id.); 

Whereas Congress will use every tool at its disposal to seek 

justice for United States citizens who are murdered in 

acts of terrorism, including attacks committed outside the 

United States; and 

Whereas United States courts have applied the Terrorism 

Exception to bring justice to European Union victims of 

state-sponsored terrorism directed against United States 

nationals (see, e.g., Hurst v. Socialist People’s Libyan 

Arab Jamahiriya, 474 F. Supp. 2d 19 (D.D.C. 2007); 

Rein v. Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, 995 

F. Supp. 325 (E.D.N.Y. 1998)): Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) Italy has violated the principle of reciprocity 

4 governing the mutual recognition of domestic court 

5 awards between our two nations; 

6 (2) the intervention by the Italian Ministry of 

7 Foreign Affairs on behalf of Iran against victims of 

8 Iranian terrorism was initiated to the detriment of 


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•SCON 48 IS 

1 both United States and European Union terrorism 

2 victims; and 

3 (3) the European Court of Human Rights 

4 should— 

5 (A) overturn the Italian Supreme Court of 

6 Cassation’s erroneous rulings in Flatow v. Is7 lamic Republic of Iran (Cass., sez. un., 28 

8 ottobre 2015, n. 21946 (It.)) and Eisenfeld v. 

9 Islamic Republic of Iran (Cass., sez. un., 28 

10 ottobre 2015, n. 21947 (It.)); and 

11 (B) order the Italian Supreme Court of 

12 Cassation to recognize the United States judg13 ments held by the Flatow, Duker, and Eisenfeld 

14 families against Iran. 

Æ 


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