Sosa's Silence: Kiobel and the Fallacy of the Supreme Court's Limitation on Alien Tort Liability

摘要

The purpose of this Article was twofold. First, to provide an objective analysis of the Kiobel case-including the factual background, court rulings, and majority and concurring opinions. Second, this Article was designed to show the fallacy that the Second Circuit relied on to bolster its holding that international law dictates the boundaries of ATS liability. Footnote twenty of the Sosa opinion, though illuminating in other aspects, is not applicable to the disposition of Kiobel. On account of this fallacy, it is important for future ATS litigants to be mindful of the trap Kiobel has laid.