Supreme Court will take up Hungary’s bid to end lawsuit from Holocaust survivors

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to intervene for the second time in a dispute between Hungary and Holocaust survivors who want to be compensated for the property confiscated from them during World War II.

The justices will hear arguments in the fall in Hungary’s latest bid to end the lawsuit filed 14 years ago by survivors, all of whom are now over 90, and heirs of survivors. Some survived being sent to the Auschwitz death camp in what was German-occupied Poland.

The issue in the case concerns whether an American court is the proper forum for the lawsuit.

Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, sovereign nations like Hungary are shielded from lawsuits in U.S. courts. But the law makes an exception for lawsuits involving “property taken in violation of international law.”

Lower courts have been wrestling with how the exception works in this case.

In 2021, the justices sided with Germany in a multimillion-dollar dispute over a collection of religious artworks known as the Guelph Treasure. That decision made it harder for some lawsuits to be tried in U.S. courts over claims that property was taken from Jews during the Nazi era.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> RELATED COVERAGE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Hungary snatches 1-0 win over Scotland to leave it with chance of making last 16 at Euro 2024 </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Scotland hoping to reach knockout stage for first time at Hungary’s expense at Euro 2024 </bsp-custom-headline>