Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Corporación Cimex, S. A. (Cuba)
609 U. S. ___ (2026) · 6/23/26
The Helms-Burton Act, formally known as the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, §301, 110 Stat. 815, 22 U. S. C. §6021 et seq., abrogates the sovereign immunity of Cuban agencies and instrumentalities; plaintiffs who sue Cuban agencies or instrumentalities under the Act need not also satisfy one of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act’s enumerated exceptions to foreign sovereign immunity.
Edition: slip opinion
Voices: Syllabus — prepared by the Reporter of Decisions · Justice Kavanaugh delivered the opinion of the Court. · Justice Kagan, with whom Justice Sotomayor and Justice Jackson join, dissenting.
In 1960, after Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba, the Cuban Government confiscated many foreign-owned assets, including Exxon’s oil refinery, terminals, packaging plants, and more than a hundred service stations. Since then, two Cuban government-owned companies—Unión Cuba-Petróleo (CUPET) and Corporación CIMEX, S. A. (Cuba) (CIMEX)—have operated and profited from Exxon’s expropriated assets. Exxon had no good way to sue the Cuban government entities and seek compensation for its confiscated property until Congress passed and President Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Act in 1996. As relevant…
Held: The Helms-Burton Act itself abrogates the sovereign immunity of Cuban agencies and instrumentalities; plaintiffs who sue Cuban agencies or instrumentalities under the Act need not also satisfy one of FSIA’s enumerated exceptions to foreign sovereign immunity. A congressional waiver of sovereign immunity must be “clearly discernible from the sum total” of Congress’s “work,” Department of Agri culture Rural Development Rural Housing Service v. Kirtz, 601 U. S. 42, 55. Four points, taken together, lead to the conclusion that the Helms-Burton Act clearly abrogated the foreign sovereign…Read it in the reading room ›