Monday, March 5, 2012

The Alien Tort Statute Revisited

The Supreme Court will rehear argument on Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum.  The arguments last week focused on the issue of whether a corporation could be held liable under international law.  I summarized the lower court's ruling in that case in previous blog post.  During the oral arguments it was clear that a couple of justices, namely Justice Alito, were more interested in considering whether the law's extraterritoriality was constitutional than whether a corporation could be held liable under international law.  It seems that the rationale for the statute when it was passed was to provide a remedy for aliens, usually ambassadors, who were the victims of tortuous activity within the United States. 

News Stories:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-05/corporate-human-rights-case-expanded-by-u-s-supreme-court.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/05/supreme-court-corporate-human-rights-kiobel-royal-dutch-petroleum_n_1322007.html

Oral Argument Transcript 02/28/2012:

http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/10-1491.pdf

s/ Kurt Koehler
308 1/2 S. State Street Suite 36
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48198
(Washtenaw County)

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