Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela v. Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Co.

Decided May 1, 2017. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 15-423 · 581 U.S. 170 (2017) · Cited 128 times

Holding

The nonfrivolous-argument standard is not consistent with the FSIA.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 8–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Verlinden B. v. v. Central Bank of Nigeria · 461 U.S. 480 (1983)
• Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations v. City of New York · 551 U.S. 193 (2007)
• Republic of Austria v. Altmann · 541 U.S. 677 (2004)
• Bell v. Hood · 327 U.S. 678 (1946)
• McNutt v. General Motors Acceptance Corp. · 298 U.S. 178 (1936)
• Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay · 437 U.S. 463 (1978)
• Hertz Corp. v. Friend · 559 U.S. 77 (2010)
• Republic of Argentina v. Weltover, Inc. · 504 U.S. 607 (1992)
• Will v. Hallock · 546 U.S. 345 (2006)
• Indianapolis v. Chase Nat. Bank · 314 U.S. 63 (1941)
• Dole Food Co. v. Patrickson · 538 U.S. 468 (2003)
• United States v. Belmont · 301 U.S. 324 (1937)
• Republic of Philippines v. Pimentel · 553 U.S. 851 (2008)
• Berizzi Brothers Co. v. SS Pesaro · 271 U.S. 562 (1926)
• National City Bank of NY v. Republic of China · 348 U.S. 356 (1955)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Hungary v. Simon · 604 U.S. 115 (2025)
• Republic of Sudan v. Harrison · 587 U.S. 1 (2019)
• Jam v. International Finance Corp. · 586 U.S. 199 (2019)
• CC/Devas (Mauritius) Ltd. v. Antrix Corp. · 605 U.S. 223 (2025)

Explore from here

Stephen Gerald Breyer’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2017). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).