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Derivative Sovereign Immunity
Definition
The theory that a private contractor can 'derive' or inherit the government's own immunity from suit by virtue of performing the government's work. The Supreme Court put this concept in scare quotes in Campbell-Ewald and rejected it as applied to a contractor that had not followed government directions.
Examples
- •GEO explicitly disavowed claiming the government's own sovereign immunity, instead arguing for a separate conditional immunity for contractors — a distinction the respondents and government say collapses into an ordinary defense.