The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 3 grappled a second time in three years with whether foreigners should have access to U.S. courts in lawsuits over assets seized during the Holocaust.
Justices seemed largely sympathetic to Hungary’s arguments during the hearing in Republic of Hungary v. Simon. Like Hungary itself, Magyar Allamvasutak Zrt., or Hungarian State Railways, is also a petitioner in the case.
The respondents, most of whom are foreign nationals, filed a proposed class action lawsuit in 2010, asking to be compensated for property that was confiscated from their families during the Holocaust.
According to court papers, they claim Hungary and the railway system took the property in 1944 when families were brutalized and forcibly removed from that country under Nazi policies. The proceeds from the property “were transferred to the Hungarian government treasury and co-mingled with other Hungarian government revenues.”…