Argument preview: A serious constitutional dilemma

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Scotus: Argument preview: A serious constitutional dilemma

By Lyle Denniston on Jan 6, 2016 at 1:28 pm

Analysis

 

Next week, on January 13, the Supreme Court will explore ways to work itself out of a constitutional dilemma: showing respect for Congress’s lawmaking powers, especially when it seeks to punish acts of terrorism, or respect for the independence of the courts to decide cases without political interference. That is what is essentially at stake in Bank Markazi v. Peterson — a modern test of the meaning of a Civil War precedent on separation of constitutional powers.

 

Bank Markazi is, of course, the Central Bank of Iran, a major agency in that government and one that, in most situations, would have legal immunity from being sued in the United States. But lower courts denied that immunity, and the bank has taken to the Supreme Court its plea to nullify a lower-court ruling that it must turn over about $1.75 billion in bank assets located in this country. The assets would go to American victims, or their families, of terrorism in the Middle East.