Latest in Alien Tort Statute: Litigation
It has been half a year since the Supreme Court decided Jesner v. Arab Bank, which held that the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) did not permit federal courts to recognize causes of action against foreign corporations. When the Jesner ruling was announced, commentators disagreed about its impact.
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC further restricts federal private litigation to vindicate international human rights law, perhaps to a vanishing point. In retrospect, even Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain’s guarded endorsement of such lawsuits seems exceptional. Both Kiobel v.
This Tuesday, the Supreme Court held in Jesner et al. v. Arab Bank, PLC that the federal courts are not available to aliens in actions against foreign corporations.
In a 5-4 vote, with Justice Anthony Kennedy writing the majority opinion, the court affirmed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit’s dismissal of the case and held that aliens cannot bring suit under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) against foreign corporations.
Procedural History
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued the following opinion in Jesner v. Arab Bank, which held that foreign corporations cannot be held liable under the Alien Tort Statute.
The recent ruling by the Eastern District of Virginia in Al Shimari, et. al. v. CACI highlights the need for further guidance from the Supreme Court—or even better, Congress—regarding the scope and nature of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS).
On Oct. 11, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Jesner v. Arab Bank. Jesner involves whether the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) allows federal courts to exercise jurisdiction over claims by aliens against corporations. As originally enacted in Section 9 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, the ATS provided that “the district courts ... shall ... have cognizance ...
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court denied Mohammed Jawad’s petition for certiorari.
In late 2002, Afghan officials arrested Mohammed Jawad and transferred him to American officials. During his six-year stay at Guantanamo, Jawad alleges that he was tortured. Upon being released from federal custody and repatriated to Afghanistan, Jawad sued the government in 2014. Last year on Lawfare, Helen Klein Murillo described the D.C.
The long-running Alien Tort Statute suit against Nestle, Archer Daniels Midland, and Cargill for allegedly aiding and abetting child slave labor in the Cote d’Ivoire—Doe v Nestle—has once again been dismissed.
As Lawfare readers know, ever since the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, lower courts have split over how to apply the majority’s cryptic holding that the Alien Tort Statute is presumed not to apply to conduct on the territory of another country, unless the plaintiff’s claims “touch and concern” the United States with sufficient force to overcome that presumption.