Federal Courts May Not Order Discovery in Private Foreign Arbitrations, U.S. High Court Rules

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that U.S. law does not allow federal courts to order litigants subject to their jurisdiction to give testimony or produce documents “for use in a foreign or international tribunal” in private commercial arbitrations.

On June 13, the high court unanimously found that while the word “tribunal” in Section 1782(a) need not be a formal “court,” read in context with the modifiers “foreign or international,” the phrase refers to an adjudicative body that exercises governmental authority.

The consolidated cases involved arbitration proceedings abroad for which a party sought discovery in the United …