Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1450_5468.pdf
Page Number: 8

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

5 

Opinion of the Court 

We disagree with Halkbank’s reading of our precedents.
The  case  on  which  Halkbank  primarily  relies,  Schooner 
Exchange,  indeed  held  that  a  district  court  lacked 
“jurisdiction”  over  a  suit  claiming  ownership  of  a  French 
warship docked in a Philadelphia port.  7 Cranch, at 146– 
147.  But  Schooner  Exchange  did  not  address  statutory 
subject matter jurisdiction.  Instead, as this Court has since 
explained,  Schooner  Exchange  concerned  principles  of
foreign sovereign immunity that “developed as a matter of
common  law.”  Samantar  v.  Yousuf,  560  U. S.  305,  311 
(2010).  Contrary  to  Halkbank’s  contention,  the  common-
law sovereign immunity recognized in Schooner Exchange
is a “rule of substantive law governing the exercise of the 
jurisdiction  of  the  courts,”  not  an  exception  to  a  general
statutory grant of subject matter jurisdiction.  Republic of 
Mexico v. Hoffman, 324 U. S. 30, 36 (1945); see also Ex parte 
Peru, 318 U. S. 578, 587–588 (1943).

In  sum,  the  District  Court  has  jurisdiction  under  18

U. S. C. §3231 over this criminal prosecution. 

III 
Relying  on  the  Foreign  Sovereign  Immunities  Act,
Halkbank contends that it enjoys immunity from criminal 
prosecution.  We disagree because the Act does not provide 
foreign  states  and  their  instrumentalities  with  immunity
from criminal proceedings. 

A 
The  doctrine  of  foreign  sovereign  immunity  originally
developed  in  U. S.  courts  “as  a  matter  of  common  law” 
rather than by statute.  Samantar v. Yousuf, 560 U. S. 305, 
311 (2010).  In determining whether to allow suits against 
foreign sovereigns, however, courts traditionally “deferred
to  the  decisions  of  the  political  branches—in  particular, 
those of the Executive Branch.”  Verlinden B. V. v. Central 
Bank of Nigeria, 461 U. S. 480, 486 (1983); see also Rubin