The United States Government has historically withheld legal recognition from de facto states, governments, and factional leaders in order to deny them a benefit. The District Court's reasoning has the perverse effect of rewarding the very individuals whom the political branches have refused to recognize, by immunizing them from civil responsibility for their illegal actions. If the Executive Branch wished to confer such immunity on the defendant, it could attempt to do so simply by sending a letter to the District Court. If the United States government's silence raises any presumption, it should be that United States foreign policy interests would not be adversely affected by adjudication of the case. All too often, would-be rulers seize power by violence, use gross human rights abuses against their own subjects to consolidate their position, then seek to negotiate for international recognition as legitimate heads of state.
History abounds with examples, Bosnia and Haiti being only the most recent.
Left unreversed, the District Court's decision would create an unacceptable loophole for individuals who commit horrendous atrocities in the name of creating an independent state. Nor is it clear that even United States government suggestion would immunize a head of state, such as Adolf Hitler, who used his position to commit massive jus cogens violations.