Law School Case Briefs

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Bank Markazi v. Peterson

Supreme Court of the United States (2016) | 194 L. Ed. 2d 463; 136 S. Ct. 1310; 2016 U.S. LEXIS 2799; 26 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 100; 94 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 432; 84 U.S.L.W. 4222

4 min read

TL;DR: Congress passed a law making specific assets of Iran's central bank available to satisfy terrorism judgments in a single, pending court case. The Supreme Court upheld the law, finding it a permissible change in substantive law, not an unconstitutional legislative usurpation of the judicial power.

Legal Significance: The case clarifies that Congress may enact highly specific, outcome-determinative legislation for pending cases without violating the separation of powers, provided it changes the underlying substantive law rather than directing a judicial finding under old law, especially in the realm of foreign affairs.