Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations et al. v. City of New York, argued on April 24, 2007 and decided on June 14, 2007 functionally served to clarify the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976. The city of New York attempted to place a tax lien against property owned by the permanent Mission of India to the United Nation due to unpaid property taxes. The Mission of India believed that this violated the sovereignty of their government in the United States. The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act or FSIA provides foreign governments with sovereignty and immunity in regards to public, governmental functions. The case itself related to property taxation, specifically properties used by foreign governments to house lower level administrative staff and their families who were posted to the United Nations in New York. While New York state law exempts foreign governments from property taxes on property used to house ambassadors and perform governmental functions, the city did not extend that exemption to lower level housing.
The court's decision clarified that the FSIA protected public acts (jure imperii) of the state, but not private ones (jure gestionis). As property ownership and rights of transfer are considered private as opposed to an issue of public sovereignty, the decision was for the city of New York, allowing taxation of property and placement of tax liens against foreign governments. Thomas, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, and Alito, JJ., joined. Stevens, J and Breyer, J. filed a dissenting opinion on the case.
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