1、CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Can Corporations be Held Liable under the Alien Tort Statute? Updated April 24, 2018 Update: In a 5-4 opinion written by Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court held that foreign corporations (including Arab Bank) m
2、ay not be defendants in suits brought under the Alien Tort Statute. A Sidebar discussing the ruling and an update to this broader report on the Alien Tort Statute are forthcoming. The original post from November 3, 2017, follows below. Recently, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Jesner v. Ara
3、b Bank PLCa case filed under the Alien Tort Statute against one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East. Originally passed by the First Congress as part of the Judiciary Act of 1789, the Alien Tort Statute provides federal district courts with “jurisdiction of any civil action by an
4、 alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” This single-sentence statute has been described as “unlike any other in American law” and “unknown to any other legal system in the world.” Despite its brevity, questions about jurisdiction under
