Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025
What does the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025 do?
S 1884 is a Senate bill sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). This law amends the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2016. Its central provision, a new subsection 5(f), says that for any claim that is otherwise timely under that Act, all defenses or substantive doctrines based on the passage of time — laches, adverse possession, acquisitive prescription and usucapion — may not be applied, and neither may any non-merits discretionary basis for dismissal, including the act of state doctrine, international comity, forum non conveniens, prudential exhaustion and similar doctrines unrelated to the merits. Congress states its reason in a finding this law inserts into the 2016 Act: some courts, it says, have frustrated that Act's intent by dismissing recovery lawsuits in reliance on those defenses, and it names Zuckerman, Cassirer and Von Saher as its examples.
Did S 1884 pass? Where it stands
As of September 2, 2026, S 1884 has been signed into law on April 13, 2026.
Status: Signed into Law
Latest vote: House Passed by voice vote on March 16, 2026
Outlook: Enacted
Enacted: Signed into law on April 13, 2026
Key provisions
- Procedural Defenses Eliminated
- For any claim that is otherwise timely under the 2016 Act, laches, adverse possession, acquisitive prescription and usucapion may not be applied — nor may the act of state doctrine, international comity, forum non conveniens, prudential exhaustion or similar doctrines unrelated to the merits
- Applies to any claim pending in any court on the date of enactment, including one pending on appeal or for which the time to file an appeal has not expired
- Relation to Foreign State Immunities
- A covered claim is deemed an action in which rights in violation of international law are in issue for purposes of section 1605(a)(3) of title 28, without regard to the nationality or citizenship of the alleged victim — the finding names the domestic-takings rule under Federal Republic of Germany v. Philipp as what this displaces
- Nationwide service of process added: process may be served in the district where the case is brought or any other district of the United States where the defendant may be found, resides, has an agent, or transacts business
- Sunset and Filing Window Removed
- The 2016 Act's sunset, under which the whole Act would have ceased to have effect on January 1, 2027, is struck outright
- The closed filing window ending December 31, 2026 is replaced by claims filed on or after the 2016 Act's enactment; that Act's six-year actual-discovery rule is left in place
Last updated September 2, 2026