Kadi v. Council and Commission

The U.N. Security Council directed member states to freeze the assets of individuals it linked to Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, or the Taliban. Under the U.N. Charter, members must carry out Security Council decisions, and those obligations override conflicting international agreements. The Sanctions Committee designated Yassin Abdullah Kadi (plaintiff), a Saudi national, and a Swedish foundation for asset freezes, and the European Union adopted a regulation implementing that freeze within the European Community. Kadi and the others sought to annul the regulation before the European Court of First Instance (CFI), which upheld it and further held that the European Community courts generally lacked power to review a regulation implementing a Security Council resolution, except for compliance with jus cogens. Kadi appealed, arguing the CFI had misunderstood the relationship between Security Council obligations and judicial review, and that individual member states retained authority to review such measures even without their own dedicated international court.