Senators Defend HEAR Act in Nazi-Looted Schiele Case

US Senators Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, and John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, filed an amicus brief on September 18 defending the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act against Austrian defendants seeking to keep a dozen Nazi-looted works by Egon Schiele.

The defendants — the Republic of Austria, the Albertina Museum and the Leopold Museum, both in Vienna — argue that the 2016 law is wholly or partially unconstitutional under the Tenth Amendment or Article III of the US Constitution. The Tenth Amendment reserves powers not explicitly granted to the federal government to the states or the people; Article III established the Supreme Court and empowers the federal judiciary.

The senators reject that argument outright. The HEAR Act "is a valid exercise of Congress' enumerated powers, including its powers with respect to war and the regulation of foreign and interstate commerce," Blumenthal and Cornyn write in the brief. "It neither violates the Tenth Amendment nor offends separation-of-powers principles."

The case, Reif v. Republic of Austria, now before the Southern District of New York, was filed in December 2022 by Timothy Reif, David Fraenkel and Milos Vavra. Reif is a descendant of Fritz Grünbaum, an Austrian Jewish performer killed at the Dachau concentration camp in 1941. Grünbaum's collection of more than 440 works was stolen from his Vienna home after the Nazis entered Austria on March 13, 1938.

In their complaint, the heirs accused Austria of becoming "a haven for traffickers in Nazi looted art" by imposing "impossible financial barriers" on claimants.

Blumenthal and Cornyn sponsored the HEAR Act, signed into law in 2016, which they describe as legislation that "aids in the recovery of Nazi-looted art and helps deliver justice for Holocaust survivors and their families." Congress amended the law in 2025 after the senators said courts had "frustrated" its intent by dismissing lawsuits on procedural and technical grounds.

The amendments removed the December 2026 expiration date on claims and other time-related defenses. Under the current version, plaintiffs must sue within six years of discovering the identity and location of the work in which they hold an ownership interest — the sole remaining time bar. The amended law also expanded its reach to foreign states, granting jurisdiction to US courts.

The constitutionality challenge now before the Southern District of New York could determine whether Grünbaum's heirs get their day in court — and whether the expanded HEAR Act can continue to open US courthouses to restitution claims against foreign governments.