Issues in Private ATS Litigation

摘要

Enacted by the first Congress shortly after the ratification of the US Constitution, the Judiciary Act of 1789 contained a provision that 'no one seems to know whence it came'. The provision, known as the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), provides in full: '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.'2 Though the provision lay dormant for nearly 200 years, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinvigorated it in a 1980 decision.3 Finding that acts of torture committed by state officials violate the law of nations and can support a claim under the ATS, the Second Circuit upheld an award of over USD10 million to the family of a Paraguayan human rights activist who had been tortured by a Paraguayan police inspector.4 Since then, plaintiffs have increasingly used the statute, though centuries old, to seek redress in US courts for alleged wrongs committed in foreign countries.