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Sosa V. Alvarez-Machain And Human Rights Claims Against Corporations Under The Alien Tort Statute, Carlos Manuel Vázquez

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Contrary to the claims of some observers, the Supreme Court's decision in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain does not sound the death knell for the use of the Alien Tort Statute to maintain human rights claims against private corporations in the U.S. courts. The decision clarifies the nature of claims under the Alien Tort Statue to some extent, and places some limits on the theories available in actions against private corporations, but for the most part such suits remain as viable after Sosa as they were before. That is not to say, however, that victims of corporate human rights violations in developing …