In the United States v. Sperry Corporation et al., 1989, the Supreme Court upheld a statute that allowed the U.S. government to deduct a percentage of an award given by Iran-United States Claims Tribunal before it was paid out to claimants. The case arose after Sperry Corporation received compensation from Iran for contracts disrupted by its revolution in 1979 and then challenged the deduction made by US Government under Foreign Service Act as unconstitutional taking without just compensation violating Fifth Amendment rights. However, the court ruled that this did not constitute "taking" because there was no vested property right in an uncollected judgment against foreign sovereigns due to principles of international law which immunize such judgments from execution or attachment except where sovereign has waived immunity.

In the dissenting opinion for United States v. Sperry Corporation et al., Justice Blackmun argued that the user fee imposed on Iran-United States Claims Tribunal awards was a violation of due process rights. He contended that it was unfair to retroactively impose a 1.5% charge on all arbitration awards, especially when many claimants had already settled their cases before this rule came into effect and thus could not have anticipated such an expense. Furthermore, he disagreed with the majority's view that these fees were justified as they helped fund government operations related to the tribunal; instead, he believed these costs should be borne by taxpayers in general rather than unfairly burdening specific individuals who happened to receive arbitration awards from this particular tribunal.