US Supreme Court to Decide Tort Immunity Exception Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act

Is the sexual abuse of a minor a tortious act under the tort exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act?  In Holy See v. John Doe, No. 09-1, the U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether the Vatican has imunity from damage lawsuits in the United States for the sexual abuse of minors by priests. The case is an appeal from a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Click here for the U.S. Supreme Court docket information about the case. 

The Supreme Court denied certiorari in an earlier case from the Sixth Circuit that also sought to sue the Holy See. 

(mew)