US Rejects Contractor Immunity in Decade-Old Detention Fight

Federal contractors who unsuccessfully assert a misleadingly named “derivative sovereign immunity” defense to lawsuits aren’t entitled to immediate appeals, the government told the US Supreme Court.

Derivative sovereign immunity is a defense to liability, not a form of the sovereign immunity that allows governments to avoid facing trial in the first place, according to the government’s Monday friend-of-the-court brief. The government, which seeks to participate in the Nov. 10 argument, is backing immigrant detainees who urged the justices to affirm a ruling blocking GEO Group Inc. from quickly appealing a decision rejecting its use of the defense.

The Supreme ...