Law Commons^™

Containing The Uncontainable: Drawing Rico’S Border With The Presumption Against Extraterritoriality, Miranda Lievsay

Fordham Law Review

In Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., the Supreme Court created a two-step test governing the extraterritorial reach of all federal statutes, radically altering the application of U.S. laws. Nowhere has this decision caused more upheaval than in the context of analyzing claims under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). While courts widely agree that RICO does not apply extraterritorially, courts vehemently disagree about the proper standard to determine when a RICO case is appropriately domestic or impermissibly foreign. This Note explores RICO’s origins, its legislative history, and the evolution of its extraterritorial application in Morrison’s …