US Supreme Court open to more damages against Sudan over embassy bombings

Doreen Oport, who was injured in the attack on the US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya in 1998, stands outside the U.S. Supreme Court after oral arguments in Washington, US February 24, 2020.

The US Supreme Court on Monday appeared open to reinstating $4.3 billion in punitive damages against Sudan in lawsuits accusing it of complicity in the 1998 al Qaeda bombings of two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people.

Eight justices heard about an hour of arguments in an appeal - filed by people injured and relatives of people killed in the attacks - of a 2017 lower court ruling that blocked the plaintiffs from collecting the punitive damages imposed against Sudan alongside about $6 billion in compensatory damages. Justice Brett Kavanaugh did not participate in the case.