Alien Tort Statute

Background

The Alien Tort Provision (ATP) was passed as part of the Judiciary Act of 1789, though the ATP was largely dormant for nearly 200 years. Enactment of the ATP intended to give federal district courts jurisdiction to hear claims by aliens for torts in violation of law of nations or treaties of the United States.

Today, class action plaintiffs are attempting to use the ATP to try to hold U.S. multinational corporations vicariously liable for alleged violations of the law of nations by foreign governments and their militaries. Class action lawyers theory states that US corporations operating overseas benefit from police and military security by foreign host governments, so that if the foreign government commits internationally recognized torts against its own citizens, the U.S. corporation is liable under the ATP. In most cases, neither the victim nor the accused abusers have any contact with the US.

However, U.S. court resources should be used sparingly when attempting to adjudicate disputes arising from alleged conduct occurring solely outside the United States involving non-US citizens and their own governments' conduct. US courts are ill-suited to ferret out facts related to a foreign government's internal conflicts involving its own citizens. It is beyond the court's jurisdiction to assess liability against the true tortfeaser, the foreign government or its military. In addition, cases where U.S. courts are evaluating conduct of sovereign nations vis-a-vis their own citizens, raise tremendous risk of interference with U.S. foreign relations.