Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1450_5468.pdf
Page Number: 10.0

Cite as:  598 U. S. ____ (2023) 

7 

Opinion of the Court 

foreign  state  for  purposes  of  the  FSIA.    Brief  for  United 
States 28; see also 16 F. 4th, at 342, n. 8.) 

Since  the  FSIA’s  enactment,  this  Court  has  repeatedly
stated that the statute applies in “civil” actions.  See, e.g., 
Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation, 596 
U. S. ___, ___ (2022) (slip op., at 5); Republic of Argentina v. 
NML Capital, Ltd., 573 U. S. 134, 141 (2014); Altmann, 541 
U. S.,  at  691;  Verlinden,  461  U. S.,  at  488.    Although  the
Court has not expressly held that the FSIA covers only civil 
matters,  the  Court  has  never  applied  the  Act’s  immunity 
provisions in a criminal case.

We now hold that the FSIA does not grant immunity to
foreign  states  or  their  instrumentalities  in  criminal
proceedings.  Through  the  FSIA,  Congress  enacted  a 
comprehensive  scheme  governing  claims  of  immunity  in
civil 
their 
instrumentalities.  That  scheme  does  not  cover  criminal 
cases. 

against 

actions 

foreign 

states 

and 

1 
To  begin  with,  the  text  of  the  FSIA  indicates  that  the 
statute  exclusively  addresses  civil  suits  against  foreign 
states  and  their  instrumentalities.    The  first  provision  of
the  FSIA  grants  district  courts  original  jurisdiction  over
“any nonjury civil action against a foreign state” as to “any
claim  for  relief  in  personam  with  respect  to  which  the 
foreign  state  is  not  entitled  to  immunity.”    28  U. S. C. 
§1330(a) (emphasis added); 90 Stat. 2891. 

The  FSIA  then  sets  forth  a  carefully  calibrated  scheme 
that relates only to civil cases.  For instance, the sole FSIA 
venue  provision  exclusively  addresses  venue  in  a  “civil 
action” against a foreign state.  §1391(f ).  The Act similarly 
provides  for  removal  to  federal  court  of  a  “civil  action” 
brought  in  state  court.  §1441(d).  The  Act  prescribes 
detailed  rules—including  those  governing  service  of  “the 
summons  and  complaint,”  §1608(a)(1),  along  with  “an