## Facts

- India and Mongolia owned buildings in New York City used both for diplomatic offices and as rent-free residential quarters for lower-level diplomatic employees and their families.
- New York law exempted from property tax only the portions of foreign-government property used exclusively for diplomatic offices or for the residential quarters of a diplomat with ambassador or minister plenipotentiary rank; other portions were taxable.
- New York City assessed property taxes on the nonexempt residential portions and, when the missions did not pay, the unpaid taxes became tax liens in the City’s favor under state law.
- The City sued for declaratory judgments to establish the validity of the tax liens; the missions removed to federal court and asserted immunity under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA).

## Issues

1. Whether a municipal suit to establish the validity of property-tax liens on real property owned by a foreign state falls within FSIA’s “immovable property” exception, 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(4).
2. Whether reliance on certain international agreements in interpreting FSIA was proper (not reached).

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that FSIA did not immunize the foreign states from the City’s actions.
- The Court ruled that tax liens are “rights in immovable property” under § 1605(a)(4), so the immovable-property exception removed immunity.
- The Court relied primarily on statutory text and ordinary legal meaning; it did not decide whether lower courts erred by consulting international agreements not binding on the United States.

## Legal Principles

- FSIA establishes a presumption of foreign-state immunity from suit, subject to enumerated exceptions.
- Under 28 U.S.C. § 1605(a)(4), immunity is unavailable in cases “in which rights in immovable property situated in the United States are in issue.”
- “Rights in immovable property” includes interests and encumbrances in land, such as tax liens, not only disputes over title, ownership, or possession.
- The immovable-property exception is limited to suits directly implicating property interests in U.S. real estate; courts may not expand immunity beyond the statutory line drawn by Congress.

## Conclusion

Federal courts have jurisdiction under FSIA’s immovable-property exception over a municipality’s suit seeking a declaration that property-tax liens on foreign-state-owned U.S. real estate are valid, because such liens constitute “rights in immovable property” within § 1605(a)(4).


Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations v. City of New York, 551 U.S. 193 (2007)