What did the Supreme Court decide in Exxon Mobil Corp v. Corporación CIMEX S.A., and why is it significant for lawsuits against Cuban state-owned entities?

The Supreme Court ruled 6–3 to revive Exxon Mobil’s $1 billion lawsuit against Corporación CIMEX S.A., a Cuban state-owned conglomerate, holding that Congress waived sovereign immunity for Cuban entities under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act of 1996 — a waiver that overcomes the usual protections of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). The Court found that Congress took the 'highly unusual step' of expressly creating a cause of action against Cuba, and therefore did not simultaneously bar suit through FSIA immunity; as Justice Kavanaugh wrote, 'Congress does not ordinarily authorize a suit against a sovereign with one hand, only to bar it with another.' This decision reverses the D.C. Circuit’s prior instruction to reassess CIMEX’s FSIA immunity and remands the case for further proceedings. Its significance lies in establishing that Cuban state-owned enterprises can be sued in U.S. courts for commercial use of assets confiscated after the 1959 Revolution — especially because Title III, though enacted in 1996, had been suspended by every president until Trump lifted the suspension in 2019. The ruling, alongside another recent decision reviving a lawsuit over seized docks in Havana’s port, marks a potential watershed for enforcing U.S. claims against Cuban government assets.

Why did the dissenting justices disagree with the majority’s interpretation of the Helms-Burton Act’s effect on sovereign immunity?

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by the Court’s two other liberal justices, dissented on the grounds that the majority misapplied the high legal standard required to find congressional abrogation of sovereign immunity. She argued that waiving immunity is an extraordinary act demanding clear, unambiguous statutory language — and that the Helms-Burton Act contains no such express statement withdrawing FSIA protection from Cuban state-owned enterprises like CIMEX. Instead, the majority, in her view, engaged in impermissible inference by searching for an 'abrogation lurking between the lines' — a phrase underscoring her position that Congress never intended or articulated such a waiver. Her dissent emphasized textual fidelity and precedent requiring explicit congressional intent to override sovereign immunity, warning that the majority’s approach undermines the settled framework of foreign sovereign immunity and risks unpredictable exposure for foreign state actors in U.S. courts.

Supreme Court Revives $1 Billion Exxon Suit Over Cuba Assets

Jun 23, 2026

The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Exxon Mobil, reviving its lawsuit against a Cuban state-owned enterprise over seized oil and gas assets. This decision overturns a lower court ruling on sovereign immunity under the Helms-Burton Act.

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