What Does Overruling Chevron Mean for Transnational Litigation?
For the past forty years, under Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984), courts have deferred to an agency’s interpretation of a federal statute when the statute is ambiguous and the agency’s interpretation is reasonable. On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron. In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the Court…
Continue ReadingVirtual Workshop: Beyond the Presumption Against Extraterritoriality
Next Tuesday (July 2), TLB Editor Maggie Gardner will present at the Hamburg Max Planck Institute’s virtual monthly Current Research in Private International Law workshop. The talk, which is open to the public (register here), will begin at 8:00 am EST and will be followed by an open discussion. Here is a description of Maggie’s…
Continue ReadingThrowback Thursday: Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain
On June 29, 2004, two decades ago, the Supreme Court decided Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, recognizing an implied cause of action under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) for violations of human rights norms that are generally accepted and specifically defined. In this post, I look back at Sosa and discuss what has happened in ATS litigation during…
Continue ReadingThrowback Thursday: Empagran’s Complicated Legacy
Twenty years ago tomorrow, on June 14, 2004, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. v. Empagran S.A. The majority opinion, authored by Justice Stephen Breyer, interpreted the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act of 1982 (FTAIA) to preclude the application of U.S. antitrust law to injuries in other countries. Empagran…
Continue ReadingSecond Circuit Allows Securities Claims Against Crypto-Asset Exchange
In Morrison v. National Australia Bank (2010), the U.S. Supreme Court applied the presumption against extraterritoriality to § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act, holding that this provision applies only to transactions in the United States. Morrison’s transactional test has proven difficult to apply to unlisted securities that do not trade on an exchange. In…
Continue ReadingDistrict Court Permits Clean Air Act Action Against Canadian Company
The presumption against extraterritoriality is the principal tool that U.S. courts use to determine the reach of federal statutes. Last year, in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. (2023), the U.S. Supreme modified the presumption by requiring conduct relevant to a provision’s focus to occur in the United States in order for the application…
Continue ReadingAnother Victory for Mexico in Guns Litigation
Still flush with success from its win at the First Circuit against U.S. gun manufacturers, Mexico has scored a new victory in federal court—this time, against U.S. gun dealers. In Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Diamondback Shooting Sports, Inc., the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona (Judge Rosemary Márquez) ruled that Mexico could move…
Continue ReadingD.C. Circuit Defines “Venture” Under the TVPRA
On March 5, 2024, the D.C. Circuit issued its long-awaited opinion in Doe v. Apple, a suit against U.S. tech companies seeking to hold them liable under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) for forced labor and human trafficking used to mine cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). (Disclosure: I joined…
Continue ReadingThe Extraterritorial Reach of Criminal Statutes
When federal statutes do not indicate how far they reach, courts apply a presumption against extraterritoriality to limit their geographic scope. Last year, in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. (2023), the Supreme Court revised the presumption by requiring conduct in the United States for a statute’s application to be considered domestic. Meanwhile, lower courts…
Continue ReadingFirst Circuit Allows Some of Mexico’s Claims Against Gun Manufacturers to Move Forward
Mexico has strict gun laws. There is one gun store in the country, and Mexico issues fewer than fifty gun permits a year. Yet Mexico has the third most gun-related deaths in the world because it borders the United States. An estimated half million guns flow from the United States into Mexico each year. In…
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