1、CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i The Rise and Decline of the Alien Tort Statute June 6, 2018 A narrowly divided Supreme Court held in Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC that foreign corporations may not be defendants in suits brought under the Alien Tor
2、t Statute (ATS). In its current form, the ATS provides that “The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an 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 the subject of inte
3、nse interest in recent decades, as it has evolved from a little-known jurisdictional provision to a prominent vehicle for foreign nationals to seek redress in U.S. courts for injuries caused by human rights offenses and acts of terrorism. In a series of decisions, however, the Supreme Court has plac
4、ed significant limitations on the ability to pursue claims under the ATS, and the High Court has never ruled in a plaintiffs favor in an ATS case. Jesners holding barring foreign corporate liability marks a continuation of this trend, causing some to debate whether the ATS remains a viable mechanism
