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Supplemental Brief Of Professors Anthony J. Bellia Jr. And Bradford R. Clark As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, Anthony J. Bellia, Bradford R. Clark
Supplemental Brief Of Professors Anthony J. Bellia Jr. And Bradford R. Clark As Amici Curiae In Support Of Respondents, Anthony J. Bellia, Bradford R. Clark
Anthony J. Bellia
From the Summary of Argument This case squarely presents the question whether ATS jurisdiction extends to claims solely between aliens. The plaintiffs and defendants are all aliens; no U.S. citizen or corporation has ever been a party to the case. Because the issue of party alignment under the ATS is a question of subject matter jurisdiction, the parties cannot waive it, and either the Court or a party may raise it anytime. And the question whether the ATS covers suits between aliens is likely to recur; indeed, the issue is squarely presented by the Ninth Circuit's recent ruling in Sarei …
The Alien Tort Statute And The Law Of Nations, Bradford R. Clark, Anthony J. Bellia
The Alien Tort Statute And The Law Of Nations, Bradford R. Clark, Anthony J. Bellia
Anthony J. Bellia
Courts and scholars have struggled to identify the original meaning of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). As enacted in 1789, the ATS provided "[t]hat the district courts...shall...have cognizance...of all causes where an alien sues for tort only in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." The statute was rarely invoked for almost two centuries. In the 1980s, lower federal courts began reading the statute expansively to allow foreign citizens to sue other foreign citizens for all violations of modern customary international law that occurred outside the United States. In 2004, the Supreme Court took …