Supreme Court Issues Opinion in U.S. Alien Tort Claims Act Case
The U.S. Supreme Court held today that foreign citizens may not use the U.S. Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA)(28 USC 1350) to sue in America over alleged abuses of human rights. In Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, the Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision that awarded $25,000 in damages to a doctor abducted in Mexico and brought to the United States to face trial in the death of federal drug agent. After being acquitted of the charges, Dr. Alvarez-Machain sued the U.S. government and Jose Sosa, a former Mexican police officer that abducted him.
Ruling on the scope of the ATCA for the first time, the Supreme Court held that law did not create a right to bring lawsuits such as the one pursued by Dr. Alvarez-Machain and the lawsuit properly belonged in Mexican courts.
The Supreme Court Justices agreed on a 9-0 vote that the law gave federal courts jurisdiction to hear some ATCA claims, but did not give individuals a right to sue. The Justices were split on other legal issues in the case.
Justice David H. Souter, writing for the court, said that when Congress enacted the ATCA in 1789 that it envisioned only a "modest" set of lawsuits brought under the law, including offenses against ambassadors and piracy.
But Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in a concurring opinion that those limited exceptions did not totally close the door on foreign lawsuits. "This court seems incapable of admitting that some matters any matters are none of its business," Scalia wrote in an opinion joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justice Clarence Thomas.
The decision was a major victory for U.S. businesses, who had feared an increase in lawsuits over labor practices at their overseas plants.
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