Ketanji Brown Jackson Questions Sovereign Immunity in Supreme Court Case

Sovereign Immunity vs. Defense

• ❓ Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson questioned whether sovereign immunity should be understood as a defense rather than an immunity.
• ⚖️ The court has consistently defined it as an immunity from suit, based on the relationship to the sovereign.

The Uniqueness of Sovereign Immunity

• 👑 Sovereign immunity is described as unique to the sovereign and unconditional.
• 🤝 The sovereign generally cannot delegate or give away its immunity.
• 🚫 This principle was reinforced in the Campbell Ewald case, where a contractor's argument for enjoying the government's immunity was rejected.
• ⚠️ The court rejected the ambitious argument that a contractor could inherit sovereign immunity, especially when they had disobeyed government instructions.