28 U.S.C. § 1609
Section 1609 · Immunity from attachment and execution of property of a foreign state
This is § 4 of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 118 court decisions — leading case Stena Rederi AB v. Comision de Contratos del Comite Ejecutivo General del Sindicato Revolucionario de Trabajadores Petroleros de la Republica Mexicana, S.C. (1991)
Most recently applied in Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Corporación Cimex, S. A. (Cuba) (U.S. 2026, slip opinion) (June 2026)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 28 U.S.C. § 1610 · 28 U.S.C. § 1603 · 28 U.S.C. § 1605
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Subject to existing international agreements to which the United States is a party at the time of enactment of this Act the property in the United States of a foreign state shall be immune from attachment arrest and execution except as provided in sections 1610 and 1611 of this chapter.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The time of enactment of this Act, referred to in text, probably means the time of enactment of Pub. L. 94–583, which was approved Oct. 21, 1976.