Washington — The Supreme Court on Thursday revived a decades-old property dispute central to U.S.-Cuba relations, ruling 8-1 that a U.S. company may go forward with claims that four major cruise lines illegally profited from dock facilities seized by Fidel Castro’s government in the early years of the Cuban Revolution.
The high court’s decision resurrects a suit filed by Havana Docks, which operated loading docks in the Cuban capital before the Castro government expropriated the property in the 1960s. Havana Docks contends that the cruise lines — Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and MSC Cruises — trafficked in confiscated property when they brought tourists to the Havana docks during the brief normalization of relations under President Barack Obama.
Writing for the court, Justice Clarence Thomas held that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta erred when it dismissed the claims. “The cruise lines used confiscated property to which Havana Docks owns the claim,” Thomas wrote, concluding that the appeals court’s reading of the Helms-Burton Act was too narrow.
The 1996 Helms-Burton Act allows U.S. nationals to sue persons or companies that “traffic” in property confiscated by the Cuban government. The cruise lines had argued that their operations were authorized by U.S. government licenses under the Obama-era opening and that the law did not apply retroactively to property seized half a century earlier. The Supreme Court’s ruling rejects that reading and sends the case back to the lower court for further proceedings.
The 8-1 vote saw only Justice Sonia Sotomayor in dissent. She argued that the cruise lines’ activities fell within an exemption for “lawful travel” and did not constitute trafficking. The majority, however, found that any commercial use of confiscated property triggered the statute.
The ruling is not a final determination of liability but clears a significant legal hurdle for Havana Docks. The decision could open the door to a wave of similar claims by U.S. owners of property seized across Cuba, from sugar mills to hotels to residential buildings, potentially complicating any future diplomatic engagement with Cuba.
The court’s action comes amid a sharp escalation of U.S. pressure on Havana under the Trump administration. On Wednesday, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment against former Cuban President Raúl Castro, charging him with murder and conspiracy in the 1996 shootdown of two civilian planes flown by Miami-based anti-Castro exiles. The downing, which killed four men, has long been a rallying cry for Cuban-American hardliners. President Donald Trump himself has issued renewed threats of military action against the island.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a video address to the Cuban people on Tuesday, said the United States was offering a “new path” and expressed doubt that diplomatic engagement with the current Cuban government could succeed. The combined legal and diplomatic offensive marks the most aggressive posture toward Cuba since the Trump administration took office.