Strange Statutory Interpretation in Foreign Relations Law: The October 2025 Term
The back end of the Supreme Court’s October Term 2025 brought us three decisions in statutory cases dealing with foreign relations law. Havana Docks Corp. v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. explored the scope of the Helms Burton Act, a sanctions statute targeting Cuba. Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Corporación Cimex, S.A. (Cuba) held that this statute…
Continue ReadingSupreme Court Decides Cisco and Cimex
Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down decisions in two significant transnational litigation cases. In Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe, the Court held that federal courts may not recognize any new causes of action under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), “clos[ing] the door” on human rights litigation under the ATS and effectively overruling Sosa…
Continue ReadingDistrict Court Rejects Constitutional Challenge to TVPA
On June 9, 2026, in Boniface v. Viliena, Judge Allison D. Burroughs (District of Massachusetts) rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), holding that the act applies extraterritorially to torture and extrajudicial killing between aliens and that Congress had authority to pass the act under the Offenses Clause of…
Continue ReadingThrowback Thursday: RJR Nabisco v. European Community
Ten years ago, on June 20, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in RJR Nabisco, Inc. v. European Community. The Court held that two of RICO’s criminal provisions apply extraterritorially to the same extent as RICO’s predicate offenses, but that RICO’s civil cause of action applies only when there is injury to…
Continue ReadingThe Oral Argument in Cisco
Editor’s Note: This article also appears in Just Security. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe, a case testing whether claims for aiding and abetting human rights violations may be brought in federal court under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA). The…
Continue ReadingCisco’s Real Stakes: Digitally Aiding and Abetting
This post is cross-published at Just Security. On April 28, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear Cisco Systems v. Doe I et al. (Cisco), which asks whether a private U.S. company can ever be sued under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS)—and its CEO sued under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) (1992)—for aiding and…
Continue ReadingMaryland Shuts Down Climate-Change Litigation
Last month, the Supreme Court of Maryland affirmed dismissal of all claims in lawsuits brought by Baltimore, Annapolis, and Anne Arundel County against 26 oil and gas companies alleging that the companies actively deceived the public about the reality and dangers of climate change. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2021 before being…
Continue ReadingHappy Birthday to TLB!
On March 28, 2022, Transnational Litigation Blog went live. Our very first post, titled Why Transnational Litigation?, listed the many reasons why we thought the world needed a blog devoted to the topic of transnational litigation. While it is unlikely that this post will ever achieve a status akin to the very first sketch on…
Continue ReadingFourth Circuit Affirms $42 Million Jury Verdict in Abu Ghraib Case
Editor’s Note: This article also appears in Just Security. Between October and December 2003, interrogators hired by CACI Premier Technology, Inc., along with members of the U.S. military, abused detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, subjecting them to sexual assault, forced nudity, dog threats and attacks, prolonged stress positions, and threats. In 2008, some…
Continue ReadingSupreme Court Grants Cert in Cisco
On Friday, the Supreme Court granted cert in Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe I to address two questions: (1) whether claims for aiding and abetting human rights violations can be brought under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS); and (2) whether such claims can be brought under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA). I have discussed…
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