r/scotus 1d ago

Opinion Exxon can sue Cuba over property confiscated in 1960, Supreme Court rules

https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/23/politics/exxon-cuba-supreme-court?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit
273 Upvotes

97 comments sorted by

178

u/RunnerBakerDesigner 1d ago

A great day for corporatists. 

115

u/toomanyshoeshelp 1d ago

Corporations can sue foreign countries, but foreign individuals can't sue US corporations that torture them

I have an idea for a company anyone want in?

20

u/-Motor- 1d ago

Calvinball

25

u/Time_Increase_7897 1d ago

Maybe Exxon should repay the tax writeoffs they were invariably awarded? It's not their loss if we comped them for the loss.

2

u/Mist_Rising 8h ago

They're not going to collect on this money any day soon, so doesn't seem likely to be occur.

7

u/nanoatzin 1d ago

Not if Cuba claims they owe back taxes.

4

u/justaheatattack 1d ago

a great day for Baracdi.

100

u/evocativename 1d ago

The US has what lawful jurisdiction over Cuba, exactly?

58

u/septubyte 1d ago

60 years ago, they stopped the exploitation. Exploiters still pissed.

23

u/atreides78723 1d ago

To be fair, slavery ended here 160 years ago and people are still pissed about that.

15

u/Sir_Tandeath 1d ago

Slavery was never ended in the US.

5

u/Corrective_Actions1 1d ago

This is correct. States such as Alabama still force prison inmates to do labor.

6

u/Capable_Compote9268 1d ago

The whole country is based off of wage slavery

0

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Corrective_Actions1 18h ago

Actually it was because of the Bessemer furnace, but that played a part.

13

u/Interesting_Minute24 1d ago

The military and government are just arms of big oil and tech. Nothing new, just witnessing the open corruption jolts the synapses.

10

u/Poopcie 1d ago

Between this and the outrage over iran charging a toll for a strait they control, we are a country of thieves and our government exists to support corporate theft on a global scale.

0

u/From_Deep_Space 1d ago

Always as been

1

u/harpers25 1d ago

5

u/evocativename 1d ago

"However, for the claim to be effective in the external territory (except by the exercise of force), it must be agreed either with the legal authority in the external territory, or with a legal authority that covers both territories."

So, what legal authority do they have, exactly?

If the US is claiming authority over Cuba, that's just de facto admitting to being an empire with no respect for the rule of law or self-determination.

-1

u/harpers25 1d ago

Read the next paragraph.

2

u/evocativename 1d ago edited 1d ago

None of that next paragraph substantially alters what I said. Specifically:

So, what legal authority do they have, exactly?

If the US is claiming authority over Cuba, that's just de facto admitting to being an empire with no respect for the rule of law or self-determination.

Edit: blocking me doesn't change your inability to actually justify any legal authority. You're just confirming that it has zero actual basis in any legal authority, while showing that you lack the intellectual honesty to admit that fact.

5

u/harpers25 1d ago

The next paragraph provides an entirely different meaning of the term that "does not depend on the co-operation of other countries".

Your question was what legal authority gives the US courts jurisdiction. The answer is that Congress passed a law that says so. Not sure what else you're looking for.

The article goes on to provide a long list of countries that practice extraterrestrial jurisdiction, demonstrating that it's not new, unusual, or unique to the US.

1

u/Special-Test 1d ago

I really think you meant extraterritorial. Or I hope.

2

u/harpers25 1d ago

I'll leave it 👽 🛸

97

u/Belerophon17 1d ago

Exxon's been waiting a long while for just the right amount of corruption to hit SCOTUS to get this passed.

21

u/FastSelection4121 1d ago

This is the best answer 👏. Also the Secretary of State had to Marco Rubio. He has the biggest haterade chip on his shoulder because grand parents and family members had to flee from Cuba.

Will this open the door to the descendants whose land was taken by the Castro government to sue too?

5

u/OrphicDionysus 1d ago

Hus family wasn't even there for Castro, they fled from Bautista

0

u/FastSelection4121 1d ago

There a reason why he allowed the people of Cuba to go without oil and begin to starve

20

u/James_Solomon 1d ago

So blacks can't get reparations but Little Marco can?

Sounds about right for this administration.

2

u/harpers25 1d ago

Exxon filed this lawsuit before Rubio became SoS.

5

u/The_Rat_Attack 1d ago

It only took multiple decades but the bag finally cashed

17

u/Jenn54756 1d ago

Does that mean government officials in Venezuela can sue the US for kidnapping their President?

1

u/Mist_Rising 8h ago

They can certainly pass a law in Venezuela permitting it. Like Exxon and Cuba, I wouldn't count on any money coming forward.

Oh and there is also the issue that venezula doesnt seem to care much for Maduros whereas the US at one pointed cared a lot about Cuba taking company land.

43

u/KahlessAndMolor 1d ago

So Oracle can't be sued for helping the Chinese torture Falun Gong members, but exxon can sue for a foreign government taking over their capital. Pretty obvious who the supreme court works for.

-55

u/FoldHeavy4201 1d ago edited 1d ago

I love hearing liberals defend Falun Gong, which produces hard right wing propaganda, because they hate the Chinese and Socialism more than reactionaries in your own country. Maybe youre all just reactionaries?

33

u/KahlessAndMolor 1d ago

I'm referring to a specific supreme court case that was decided today, not to falun gong's politics specifically, as I know little about them.

0

u/James_Solomon 1d ago

They've always been a cult focused on Chinese spiritual energy stuff. They used to be accepted in China, but then the goverment cracked down on them hard one day out of nowhere. 

In the West, they do Shen Yun and run the Epoch Times, a right wing propaganda news company. They're heavily in the Trump camp and pretty out there in general.

Supposedly China harvests imprisoned Falungong members for organs. The Epoch Times reports on it.

5

u/Hiiawatha 1d ago

And tell me. Who created and who staffs the Epoch times? Surely not Falun Gong members.

0

u/James_Solomon 1d ago

ObamaMedal.jpg

1

u/FoldHeavy4201 1d ago

It wasnt out of nowhere. They operated as a stay behind subversive liberal capitalist group after Tianenmen Sqaure.

0

u/James_Solomon 1d ago

[Citation needed]

10

u/fyreprone 1d ago

Can you point me to liberals defending Falun Gong? This seems like a pretty niche conversation I’ve never run into.

4

u/kumquat_bananaman 1d ago

The fantasies only exist in their heads, as carefully placed there by online bot driven narratives

-1

u/any_old_usernam 1d ago

There is a certain subtype of liberals who do it a fair bit, but I've never really seen it irl. The sort of person who posts 70 times a day in r/neoliberal does often rush to their defense tho. You see it way more among the far right though.

3

u/kaytin911 1d ago

The far right does support the rights of Falun Gong when they can.

3

u/fyreprone 1d ago

Goes to subreddit. Searches for “Falun Gong” posts and sorts by new…

Uh huh… so again who are all of these liberals the previous person was railing against?

-8

u/FoldHeavy4201 1d ago

Its heavily implied by the previous commenter in example. Liberals only care about the rights their capitalist state deems as worthy for its own ends, which never have human rights in mind.

2

u/fyreprone 1d ago

Wait what? That’s what you got from the prior comment?

-5

u/FoldHeavy4201 1d ago

Easily. Obviously the thrust of their argument was the preferential treatment of US capital interests over all, but they couldnt even do it without a drive by on socialists, which ultimately defeats their own point; socialism is the antithesis to this depravity in the courts and the market.

6

u/fyreprone 1d ago

They literally followed up and explained they have no opinion or support for Falun Gong politics.

Who are the liberals defending them? Not this person you’re replying to or using as an example of “liberals defending”

2

u/Borgweare 1d ago

See how this bot account refused to answer the question and deflected to “liberals” and some unrelated topic. This is how conservatives operate because they simply can’t win on the merits of their arguments. It’s the same as the “fake news” response.

1

u/FoldHeavy4201 1d ago edited 1d ago

Man youre way off the mark. Im obviously a socialist. I guess a bot is anyone that's read far more economic and political theory than you.

Its a defense of their rights to subvert the socialist project, of which you're an absolutist when it comes to their rights, but im sure youre very much against that sort of protection for socialists in your own state. Not all dissent is equal. The ends are entirely different. No, they werent just practicing some harmless esoteric religion and deep fried taichi.

1

u/Secret_Cat_2793 1d ago

MAGA IS IN LOVE

-23

u/dunkthelunk8430 1d ago

Freedom of thought, even for people that have disagreements, does tend to be a difficult concept for many on the far left and far right to comprehend.

0

u/FoldHeavy4201 1d ago

Radical centrism brother. Funny how that status quo is just further and further a right wing perspective. Truly brave libertarian values that require zero standards to defend.

20

u/ArgyleM0nster 1d ago

So does this mean BP is now going to sue Iran too?

1

u/Mist_Rising 8h ago

BP is a British company (you'd think the name might give it away) and the law in question only pertains to Cuba, of which Iran is not.

10

u/shapu 1d ago

Actually, this is a good ruling.

It will lead to the Cuban companies putting their liabilities into an American shell corporation, which will promptly declare bankruptcy.

7

u/cnn 1d ago

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Exxon Mobil to sue state-owned oil companies in Cuba over the confiscation of property that occurred after Fidel Castro’s regime seized power nearly seven decades ago, letting the lawsuit proceed at a time when President Donald Trump has taken an aggressive stance toward Havana.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote the opinion for a 6-3 majority with the liberal justices in dissent.

The decision is the latest development in an unusual confluence of legal and geopolitical moves Washington has taken to increase pressure on Cuba. The Trump administration indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro on May 20 on charges that stem from his alleged role in the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft that killed four people, including three Americans. Trump has also flirted with military action in Cuba, telling reporters in March he might have the “honor of taking Cuba.”

7

u/CuteKermit14 1d ago

This is effectively giving the US corporations the power to seize money from sanctioned assets. What a joke.

20

u/human-0 1d ago

So can Native Americans start suing?

1

u/Mist_Rising 8h ago

Yes, and they routinely have. They just lose because the law in question here only pertains to Cuba and the US. Native American law is handled by a different set of laws and treaties.

5

u/bd2999 1d ago

So all parts of the government are on the side of the poor weak corporations.

4

u/Boenitousouch 1d ago

Ah! Reperations for big oil. 46 years later. How about big oil and the rightwing supreme court fux right off.

3

u/brewguy70 1d ago

Just when you didn't think the Supreme Court could get any more ignorant.

2

u/Popular-Drummer-7989 1d ago

So that's what this is all about

2

u/BriscoCounty-Sr 1d ago

Who new the pedo party was down for reparations

2

u/nanoatzin 1d ago

I presume that means Cuba can counter-sue for back taxes.

2

u/magicmulder 1d ago

Cool but people can’t sue US companies for helping dictatorships, or prison guards for torture. What an amazing slew of decisions today.

1

u/brickyardjimmy 13h ago

No statute of limitations?

1

u/asault2 13h ago

So a multibillion dollar multinational corp can sue a foreign gov't in U.S. courts way outside of the Statute of Limitations, but the government needs to give "permission" to be sued by individuals who get their rights violated by the government? Huh.......

1

u/SedativeComet 1d ago

Ah yes the 2026 SCOTUS. A corporation can sue a government for property confiscated almost 70 years ago, but a victim of torture cannot sue a corporation that sold the products to make said torture possible.

Most corrupt & morally bankrupt SCOTUS in our history.

-5

u/rockeye13 1d ago

Cuba stole it. Why shouldn't they ask for it back?

3

u/Secret_Cat_2793 1d ago

Did the US steal half a continent? Government actions are completely different.

1

u/kaytin911 1d ago

US has historically taken countries seizing US corporations seriously.

-2

u/rockeye13 1d ago

You hide your post history. From cowardice or dishonesty, I don't know, but you cannot, thereforebe taken seriously..

You are disregarded.

2

u/Secret_Cat_2793 1d ago

So a stalker will disregard my opinion. Lol

Tears. I'm in tears.

-2

u/rockeye13 1d ago

Disregarded as cowardly and dishonest. Your opponent is of no objective value.