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JAM v. INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORP. 

Opinion of the Court 

sovereign  immunity.  Under  that  theory,  foreign  govern-
ments are entitled to immunity only with respect to their 
sovereign  acts,  not  with  respect  to  commercial  acts.  The 
State  Department  explained  that  it  was  adopting  the 
restrictive theory because the “widespread and increasing
practice  on  the  part  of  governments  of  engaging  in  com-
mercial  activities”  made  it  “necessary”  to  “enable  persons 
doing business with them to have their rights determined
in  the  courts.”    Letter  from  Jack  B.  Tate,  Acting  Legal 
Adviser, Dept. of State, to Acting Attorney General Philip
B.  Perlman  (May  19,  1952),  reprinted  in  26  Dept.  State 
Bull. 984–985 (1952).

In 1976, Congress passed the Foreign Sovereign Immun-
ities  Act.  The  FSIA  codified  the  restrictive  theory  of  for-
eign sovereign immunity but transferred “primary respon-
sibility for immunity determinations from the Executive to
the Judicial Branch.”  Republic of Austria v. Altmann, 541 
U. S.  677,  691  (2004);  see  28  U. S. C.  §1602.    Under  the 
FSIA,  foreign  governments  are  presumptively  immune
from suit.  §1604.  But a foreign government may be sub-
ject  to  suit  under  one  of  several  statutory  exceptions.
Most pertinent here, a foreign government may be subject 
to suit in connection with its commercial activity that has
a sufficient nexus with the United States.  §1605(a)(2). 

C 
The  International  Finance  Corporation  is  an  interna-
tional  development  bank  headquartered  in  Washington,
D. C.  The IFC is designated as an international organiza-
tion  under  the  IOIA.  Exec.  Order  No.  10680,  3  CFR  86 
(1957);  see  22  U. S. C.  §§282,  288.  One  hundred  eighty-
four  countries,  including  the  United  States,  are  members 
of the IFC. 

The  IFC  is  charged  with  furthering  economic  develop-
ment  “by  encouraging  the  growth  of  productive  private
enterprise  in  member  countries,  particularly  in  the  less