U.S. courts cannot enforce foreign censorship judgments against Americans
S. 5478 — GRANITE Act · Filed by Mike Lee (R-UT) · Introduced Sep 23, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill stops U.S. courts from enforcing foreign censorship judgments. These are judgments that punish speech in ways that would break the First Amendment if done in America. Americans can sue in federal court for a judge to say a foreign judgment cannot be enforced here. Foreign governments lose sovereign immunity when they try to enforce such judgments in U.S. courts.
Who it affects
Americans who face foreign court judgments for their speech. Foreign governments that try to use U.S. courts to enforce censorship judgments.
One thing to notice
U.S. courts will decide whether a foreign law breaks the First Amendment. Americans can sue before a foreign judgment is brought to a U.S. court.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Sep 23, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 23, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- First Amendment — The part of the U.S. Constitution that protects free speech and free press.
- sovereign immunity — A legal rule that stops people from suing a foreign government in U.S. courts.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,305 characters) on Oct 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“U.S. courts cannot enforce foreign censorship judgments against Americans” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5478/simple Report an error
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