My colleague Claudia Madrid Martínez at Cartas Blogatorias has a post today noting that Argentina has file an application with the International Court of Justice seeking to institute a claim against the United States on account of the debt default. The claim, according to the ICJ’s press release, is that the US “has committed violations of Argentine sovereignty and immunities and other related violations as a result of judicial decisions adopted by US tribunals concerning the restructuring of the Argentine public debt.”

Argentina’s move will likely go nowhere, as the United States has not consented to the jurisdiction of the ICJ, and under Article 38 of the Rules of the ICJ, no action can be taken “unless and until the State against which such application is made consents to the Court’s jurisdiction for the purposes of the case.” Does anyone think the United States will submit to the ICJ here?

Julian Ku at Opinio Juris has also noted the new development and called it “grandstanding”:

The actual specific claims are not yet available, but I have a hard time imagining they are anything but frivolous. The only claim I am aware of that was raised by a commenter to my post last week is that Judge Griesa exceeded his jurisdiction by ordering third-party banks not to pay out moneys on bonds issued under foreign law. This is an interesting argument, and even if it were plausible, I don’t understand why Argentina has not raised that argument directly to the U.S. courts. And this would still not impact the bonds issued under New York law.