US Supreme Court limits human rights suits against corporations, ruling courts lack authority to create causes under the Alien Tort Statute.
WASHINGTON— In a landmark decision curtailing the reach of transnational human rights litigation in American courtrooms,the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal courts lack the authority to create new causes of action under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and held that the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (TVPA) does not extend civil liability to those who merely aid and abet abuses abroad.
The 6–3 ruling in Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe delivers a decisive victory to American multinational corporations, bringing a dramatic close to decades of judicial expansion that permitted foreign nationals to haul U.S. companies before domestic federal benches over alleged secondary complicity in foreign state abuses.