SCOTUS weighs Cole sailors suit vs. Sudan
U.S. backs tossing out $315 million judgment
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court debated yesterday whether to overturn a nearly $315 million judgment against Sudan stemming from the bombing of the USS Cole.
The question the justices are being asked to answer is where notice of the lawsuit against Sudan should have been mailed, to its embassy in Washington or its foreign ministry in the country’s capital, Khartoum. It wasn’t clear how the justices would rule.
The U.S. government has weighed in on the side of Sudan and against victims of the Cole bombing in October 2000 in which 17 sailors died and dozens of others were injured. In the case the justices were hearing, a group of injured sailors and several of their spouses sued Sudan in a U.S. court, arguing that Sudan had provided support to al-Qaida, which claimed responsibility for the attack in Yemen. Two sailors injured in the bombing and relatives of sailors who died watched the high court arguments Wednesday.
In order to alert Sudan to the lawsuit, the group mailed the required notice to Sudan’s embassy in Washington, a little over a mile from the White House. Sudan never responded and a court entered an approximately $315 million judgment against the country. Sudan wants that judgment thrown out, arguing that notice of the lawsuit should have been sent overseas. The Trump administration agrees.
The case did not seem to be one that would split the court along typical ideological lines. Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Elena Kagan all seemed to approve of sending notice of the lawsuit to the embassy. Roberts said that his “first thought” if he wanted to send mail to a foreign official would be: “Why don’t I deliver it to the embassy?” Kagan, meanwhile, told lawyer Christopher Curran, who was arguing on behalf of Sudan, that “everybody understands that embassies are supposed to be the point of contact if you want to do anything with respect to a foreign government.”