WASHINGTON—The Obama Administration has urged the Supreme Court not to hear the appeal of the Ninth Circuit’s 2012 decision striking down a California law extending the statute of limitations on Armenian Genocide-era life insurance claims, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
“President Obama, rather than filing a brief based on the merits of this case, chose instead—on the eve of Prime Minister Erdogan’s visit to Washington, D.C.—to send Ankara a political gift by both deepening his administration’s complicity in the denial of the Armenian Genocide and also obstructing justice for American citizens seeking redress through the U.S. courts,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We will, despite the president’s retreat from principle, persevere in pursuit of the justice owed the Armenian nation.”
In a 27-page brief submitted to the Supreme Court earlier on May 11, the U.S. solicitor general argued that the California law improperly allows courts “to issue judgments based on politically contentious events that occurred in the Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago, with no substantial basis to claim that it is regulating in an area of its traditional authority.”
It also made reference to selective executive branch opposition to Armenian Genocide legislation, but not to the U.S. record of recognition of the Armenian Genocide as a crime of genocide, including:
1) the U.S. government’s May 28, 1951 written statement to the International Court of Justice regarding the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in which the “Turkish massacres of Armenians” is cited among other “outstanding examples of the crime of genocide”;
2) President Ronald Reagan’s April 22, 1981 Proclamation number 4838, in which he stated, in part, “like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians, which followed it–and like too many other persecutions of too many other people–the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten.”
A link to the U.S. government’s brief is provided here.
The Supreme Court, which had requested the administration’s brief in October 2012, will consider the solicitor general’s position, along with several “friend of the court” briefs defending the California Armenian Genocide-era life insurance law, including one filed by California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, and Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin.
The case has traveled a long and complex legal path, which has included three separate and conflicting opinions from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the most recent on Feb. 23, 2012. That decision struck down the California law extending the statute of limitations for certain life insurance claims based on an unprecedented expansion of the rarely invoked doctrine of foreign affairs field preemption. In its ruling, the Ninth Circuit invalidated the California law, which was unanimously passed by the legislature, because of Turkish government threats aimed at silencing discussion of the Armenian Genocide in the United States.
Plaintiffs’ petition to the Supreme Court to hear the case was filed by Igor Timofeyev of Paul Hastings, LLP. Claims for unpaid life insurance policies dating back to the Armenian Genocide were first brought by plaintiffs’ attorney Vartkes Yeghiayan. Attorneys who have been representing plaintiffs include Lee Crawford Boyd, Rajika Shah, Mark Geragos, and Brian Kabateck.
A series of amicus briefs were filed in support of the plaintiffs’ petition including a filing by U.S. Federal and State legislators, filed by attorneys Mary-Christine Sungaila and Seepan Parseghian at the firm of Snell and Willmer, LLP.
Human rights and public policy groups including the Armenian Bar Association, Armenian National Committee of America, Zoryan Institute for Contemporary Armenian Research and Documentation, Inc., Genocide Education Project, Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action, Center for the Study of Law & Genocide, and the International Human Rights Clinic of the University of Southern California Gould School of Law also filed an amicus brief and were represented by Bingham McCutchen, LLP, led by partner David Balabanian.
The complete set of filings can be viewed here.
Guest Contributor
You see my friend Armenians you have lost another case. It is not that USA has retreated but you Armenians lost the political battle against Turks. Well done to Turkey
John, Its not going to go away. Not in any lifetime. The idea of taking this type of ruling to the Supreme Court, was unheard of 30 years ago. Turkey has to face up to it’s crime. Its only a amatter of time.
As far as Obama, what a weasel.
@john the turk- There isn’t any case lost my friend. Over 98 years we have been fighting, some we have won, some we have lost, but we have come a long way. Before we reached this far, there were many other claims that the Armenians have lost, but you still see us around keeping you Turks up on your heels don’t you ? Well my friend, expect to see Armenians around you fighting for justice. Yes, the road to justice is rocky and full of thorns, but what couldn’t stop us then can never stop us now or ever. Today the tide was in your favour, tomorrow it will be in ours- the direction of the wind keeps changing you see.
Obama can do a little, for as far as humanity exists, the Genocide issue shall always come up. Neither the US Govt, nor your Turkish lobby can hide what happened for long… The fact that Obama stoped it assures that he knows it happened. I can already feel the changing wind in my hair…I hope the temeprature on your side isn’t that hot yet.. ;)
Well, No, John the Turk: actually we have not lost the political battle against Turks: we lose some, but win most.
Obviously, we will not have an uninterrupted string of victories: there will be reverses, plateaus. But our wins will keep piling up.
Count the number of countries, states, counties, territories, cities, etc all over the world which have affirmed the AG: the list keeps growing., not diminishing. And it is getting worse for you Denialists: the French AG denial criminalization law – which would have been unheard of just a few years ago – almost became law. It will, sooner or later. And then other countries will follow suit. You Turks had to scramble to buy a few French judges to thwart it. During the French Senate and Assembly debates, even those who spoke against the bill, specifically noted that they do not question the AG, just the legal ramifications of the Law.
Think about that, Denialist Turk.
And Obama getting involved in this case is nothing new: US Administrations routinely intervene in these of sorts of things. The Executive branch does not like ordinary citizens intruding into what they (US State Dept) consider their turf.
To wit, huge civil court verdicts were handed down against Iran and Iraq for the victims of what was deemed to be terrorist acts supported by “terrorist” States (Iran, Iraq). Both Clinton and Bush Administration thwarted the collection of the verdicts by the victims, ordinary Americans.
Think about that: US went to bat for hated Iran to prevent collection of US Court judgment – by Americans.
Now, clearly we are disappointed that Obama did chime in, because the Administration could have just stayed out.
But, in any case, every little bit of controversy publicizes and promotes the AG cause even more.
—-
Regarding the cold war between Armenians and our allies vs Denialist Turks and their allies.(what you call “political battle”).
Considering the massively disproportionate equation of forces, we have done and are doing remarkably well.
Turkey is a large, populous state, strategically located, fully backed by US (Neocon establishment). Most (Neocon) establishments of the powerful Western states back Turkey for a variety of economic, political, and geostrategic reasons.
Not for any love for Turks: only Business
Denialist Turks also have a segment of the powerful Jewish Diaspora supporting them: again for political and geostrategic reasons, i.e. Israel.
Armenians do not have a single powerful country backing them unconditionally on the international scene.
Yet we are chalking up wins.
All our successes have been with our own efforts, with generous support from many, many non-Armenian friends, including, yes, Jews and Turks.
We are in for the long haul.
Right now, geopolitical winds are at Turkey’s back. We are fighting against very powerful headwinds, yet are still making solid, relentless progress.
The equation of forces will change in the future: always does.
We do not know when: 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, 100 years, 500 years, makes no difference.
We do our part in our time, and hand the baton to the next generation.
And the next 20-something Diaspora generation, at least here in the US, is even more determined to see that AG justice is done, compared to previous ones.
Born here, raised here, but inexplicably some unexplained force tugs at their hearts from 5,000 years ago and thousands of miles away.
All the work we are doing has purpose. The building blocks are being assembled.
They will come into play at the right time.
We do not expect Turkey to crumble tomorrow.
You denialists have to win every time, and your win is only temporary: it dissipates.
We win once, and it goes into the permanent win column.
We keep adding wins.
We will keep chipping away at the Denialist Dam: when critical mass is reached, it will burst and crumble.
And that is when, my denialist friend, your denialist nightmare will really begin.
Payback is gonna be a biatch.
To John the Turk:
There is an alternative here, that is for the Turkish government to start negotiations on how to compensate for the losses to the Armenians during the period 1915 – 23. Notice that I did not mention the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish government. For even though I affirm that the Genocide did happen, I’m willing for the time being, to deal with practical matters, i.e. Armenian interests in the interior provinces, that I believe have real solutions which could be of benefit, not only for Armenians, but also for Turks.
Now in case there are fears on the part of Turks, that such compensation would be onerous beyond reason to the Turkish people, let me assure you that I for one would be in favor of compensation that ideally would seek to be of benefit to all concerned parties. Imagine for example, Armenian diaspora money pouring into the interior provinces with the purpose of renovating properties that have legally been reassigned to their ownership. New businesses would start up and yes, taxes to the Turkish government would be paid. Further, I think a case could be made that a renewed presence of Armenian interests in the provinces would help to stablize the Kurdish situation there.
Look, I get that Turks are uneasy about recognizing a crime without really knowing what the penalty of that crime would be. It’s like a cop pulling you over and asking you to sign a ticket. When you ask the cop how much the ticket is going to cost and he says well… I don’t know… maybe 1 dollar or maybe a million dollars, are you then going to sign that ticket? Of course not! Who in their right mind would? If however the cop said the ticket was going to cost you $50, well then that’s not so bad, and hey afterwords you and that cop can be on good terms, him even helping you down the road some day. So taking this to Turks and Armenians, instead of fighting over the Armenian Genocide, can you imagine a day when we could just look each other in the eye and say… well it happened, now lets get on with the business of life?
The French agree with our suit ! God Bless Them!
The Obama administration’s behaviour is no surprise. For over one hundred years successive administrations have tried to buy the support of the Turkish government both by paying billions and trampling upon human rights , international andUSA laws. Lets not forget theUSA support by both action and inaction of Turkeys ” activities” in Cyprus. What is most disturbing, is the inability of theUSA administratioin to entertain and impliment an alternative path to that of the unquestioning support of a most unreliable ally to the detriment of USA interests
Readers of this article may possibly be interested in the following quotation from the abstract of a scholarly article:
“The issue of the Armenian abandoned properties had been legally resolved in the past. It’s well established that any attempt to challenge the current condition has to be made in a certain
procedural way. Thus, Diaspora Armenians beware of all the legitimate legal and procedural methods that have been defined by the Turkish national law and international law. Instead, they insist on bringing their political demands via propaganda in US California legislation in order to force Turkey into a legal mass, which is illegitimate and irrelevant with regard to the US legal system.” Treaty of Friendship and Commerce signed with Turkey in 1933 covered indemnifications to be paid to deserving Armenians. Rather than dealing with 1880 applications individually it was decided for Turkey to pay 1.3 billion USD in total to the US government, for the latter to handle the distribution. After payment of 900.000 USD, US government has not demanded the remaining 400.000 USD saying that there was no need. (Aslan Yavuz Şir. Diyaspora Ermenileri ve ABD Mahkemelerindeki Tazminat Girişimleri. Ermeni Araştırmaları, 2012 No.41 p.127 – http://www.academia.edu/2129309/Diaspora_Armenians_and_Their_Restitution_Attempts_In_The_US_Courts)
“In Europe and America, there’s a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the NEO-OTTOMANS
Mr. ERDOGAN said we will bury you
I don’t subscribe to this point of view
It would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the TURKS love their children too
…..Believe me when I say to you
I hope the TURKS love their children too”
Some are stuck in a “winning” and “losing” paradigm. The question is ultimately about a process. Reverses are very common, but this will be on for a very long time. Turkey will not experience relief ever, on this issue, until it does the right thing.
Personally i think if people dwell on the past they are doomed to remain there. Aremenians and greeks have been around for centuries before turkey was even a country.
Now not picking sides of what happened, wouldnt the ultimate victory be the success of one country, economically, militarily.
Hated on the west coast by the greeak hated on the east by the armenians. Turkey has manajed to become 17th largest economy in the world and 10th largest military.
That being said would the agenda of world wide recognition change anything? Besides a 5 min spot on cnn. Everyone know that no land in anotalia would be givin no reperations. Just further aggregation on both sides.
Armenias population has dimished because of obvious reasons (unemployment rate etc) most successful armenians dont live in armenia and became successful after leaving.
A landlocked country with no navy or any water routes needs to survive off their neighbors. No tourism (many people dont want to go somwhere that doesnt have a single beach.
Get close with your neighbors increase relations improve your economy and military show the world you are a powerful nation because of wealth, would seem important to me.
Smart analysis Brett. It seems that Greece needs to worry about the rise of the faschist group “Golden Dawn”, as well as Greece going bankrupt and leaving the Euro, due to the fact it has banrkupted it with crippling Socialism. Also, Armenia should worry about getting rid of it’s oligarchs and corruption as well, too. Instead of a hostile, faschist agenda amongst it’s politically and geostrategically important neighbor.
Unconvincing, Brett– Throughout the history of the mankind state entities much more powerful than Turkey have nonetheless collapsed. About getting close with your neighbors and increasing relations, this sounds even more unconvincing to hear from a Turk, whose country has problems with almost all of her neighbors because the nation of Turks has never originally belonged to the region and positioned herself in it by means of savagery and barbarity towards the native populations.
Well said Jack. This old paradigm of nationalistic politics whereby one country looses at the expense of the other with war as the ultimate means is I think archaic and not realistic in todays world of international money and multinational corporations which some might say are the real governing powers of today.
You know what you lost in your argoments John the turk? Erdogan and Obama are here for a while and will go back to their own shame and conscience, our cause will last forever. They are the looser not we!
to john the turk, this is not a game of win or loose, this is about the truth, the systematic killing of the ARMENIANS inoccent men,women,children and babies!! by the order of the turkish state,also
the stealing of their land,properties and wealth, you know this truth, but you are not civilized enough to admit, a lot of the turkish people know that a genocide was committed against the Armenians by their turkish leaders.wake up and accept the truth!!!!
@John The turk
Listen my misguided mixed blood genetically faulty ArGreeGeAssKu ( mixture of all Anatolian people) It too the Jews 2000 years to take back their homeland from 400M Muslims in the region, even if takes us 3000 years we will get justice and we will take back Western Armenia, mark our words. We are patient people, we have seen nomadic tribes like you come and go, the Assyrians wrote about us before the mongol hoardes even knew how to ride a horse, we were playing chess with the ancient Persians when your kin were still butchering each other, and as you can see a nation of 3M won the world chess team olympiad, do not get carried away because you outnumber us 50 to 1, even at those odds we are confident. Now go and praise Safarov the axe murdere that is hero you turks truly deserve.
To all the presidents and politicians that DENY THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IS because they are KISSING UP to those that do not accept the TRUTH. THERE IS A GOD and the time will come that they BURN In HELL.
why don’t the Armenian’s take the issue to the international court with historical archives, why do they keep lobbying parliaments all the time?