28 U.S.C. § 2502
Section 2502 · Aliens privilege to sue
Amended 5 times on record
Applied in 51 court decisions — leading case National City Bank of New York v. Republic of China (1955)
Most recently applied in Gal-Or v. United States (April 2015)
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.
(a) Citizens or subjects of any foreign government which accords to citizens of the United States the right to prosecute claims against their government in its courts may sue the United States in the United States Court of Federal Claims if the subject matter of the suit is otherwise within such court's jurisdiction.
(b) See section 7422(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for exception with respect to suits involving internal revenue taxes.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §261 (Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, §155, 36 Stat. 1139).
Changes were made in phraseology.
References in Text
Section 7422(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, referred to in subsec. (b), is classified to section 7422(f) of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.
Amendments
1992—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102–572 substituted “United States Court of Federal Claims” for “United States Claims Court”.
1986—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 99–514 substituted “Internal Revenue Code of 1986” for “Internal Revenue Code of 1954”.
1982—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 97–164 substituted “United States Claims Court” for “Court of Claims”.
1966—Pub. L. 89–713 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsec. (b).
Effective Date of 1992 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 102–572 effective Oct. 29, 1992, see section 911 of Pub. L. 102–572, set out as a note under section 171 of this title.
Effective Date of 1982 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 97–164 effective Oct. 1, 1982, see section 402 of Pub. L. 97–164, set out as a note under section 171 of this title.
Effective Date of 1966 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 89–713 applicable to suits brought against officers, employees, or personal representatives instituted 90 days or more after Nov. 2, 1966, see section 3(d) of Pub. L. 89–713, set out as a note under section 7422 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.