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Comment RSSSupreme Court agrees to hear question of corporate liability under the Alien Tort Statute
October 17, 2011 # 4:05 pm # Armed Conflict, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, International Law, International Organizations, Supreme Court # No Comment
Earlier today, the US Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum. As will be recalled from a previous post, in September of 2010, a divided panel of the Second Circuit held that corporate liability did not exist under the Alien Tort Statute. In similar cases, the D.C Circuit (John Doe VIII v. Exxon Mobil), and the Seventh Circuit (Flomo v. Firestone Natural Rubber Co.) reached the opposite conclusion, holding there was corporate liability under the ATS. This should be a fascinating oral argument.
Here is the question and links to documents from SCOTUS blog:
Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum (Granted )
Docket: 10-1491
Issue(s): (1) Whether the issue of corporate civil tort liability under the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350, is a merits question or instead an issue of subject matter jurisdiction; and (2) whether corporations are immune from tort liability for violations of the law of nations such as torture, extrajudicial executions or genocide or may instead be sued in the same manner as any other private party defendant under the ATS for such egregious violations.
Certiorari stage documents:
- Opinion below (2d Cir.)
- Petition for certiorari
- Brief in opposition
- Petitioners’ reply
- Amicus brief of Center for Constitutional Rights et al. (forthcoming)
- Amicus brief of Nuremburg Scholars Omer Bartov et al. (forthcoming)
- Amicus brief of International Law Scholars
- Amicus brief of Ambassador David J. Scheffer
- Amicus brief of Professors of Legal History et al.
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