Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act

Summary: Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act - Amends the federal judicial code to include among the exceptions to U.S. jurisdictional immunity of foreign states any statutory or common law tort claim arising out of an act of extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, hostage taking, terrorism, or the provision of material support or resources for such an act, or any claim for contribution or indemnity relating to a claim arising out of such an act.  Amends the federal criminal code to: (1) impose liability on, and grant U.S. district courts personal jurisdiction over, any person who commits, or aids, abets, or conspires with a person who commits, an act of international terrorism that injures a U.S. national; and (2) repeal provisions prohibiting civil actions against foreign states or foreign officials for damages related to acts of terrorism.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Justice Against Sponsors of 
Terrorism Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) International terrorism is a serious and deadly problem 
        that threatens the vital interests of the United States.
            (2) The Constitution confers upon Congress the power to 
        punish crimes against the law of nations and to carry out the 
        treaty obligations of the United States, and therefore Congress 
        may by law impose penalties relating to the provision of 
        material support to foreign organizations engaged in terrorist 
        activity, and allow for victims of international terrorism to 
        recover damages from those who have harmed them.
            (3) International terrorism affects the interstate and 
        foreign commerce of the United States by harming international 
        trade and market stability, and limiting international travel 
        by United States citizens as well as foreign visitors to the 
        United States.
            (4) Some foreign terrorist organizations, acting through 
        affiliated groups or individuals, raise significant funds 
        outside of the United States for conduct directed and targeted 
        at the United States.
            (5) Foreign organizations that engage in terrorist activity 
        are so tainted by their criminal conduct that any contribution 
        to such an organization facilitates that conduct.
            (6) The imposition of civil liability at every point along 
        the causal chain of terrorism is necessary to deter the flow of 
        money, which is the lifeblood of terrorism. As recognized by 
        Judge Richard Posner in Boim v. Holy Land Foundation for Relief 
        and Development, 549 F.3d 685, 690-91 (7th Cir. 2008) (en 
        banc), ``[d]amages are a less effective remedy against 
        terrorists and their organizations than against their financial 
        angels[,] . . . suits against financiers of terrorism can cut 
        the terrorists' lifeline''.
            (7) It is necessary to explicitly recognize the substantive 
        causes of action for aiding and abetting and conspiracy 
        liability under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987 (22 U.S.C. 5201 
        et seq.), especially given that the United States Courts of 
        Appeals for the 2d and 7th Circuits have held that such 
        theories of liability currently are not available. See 
        Rothstein v. UBS AG, 708 F.3d 82 (2d Cir. 2013); Boim v. Holy 
        Land Foundation for Relief and Development, 549 F.3d 685 (7th 
        Cir. 2008) (en banc).
            (8) The decision of the United States Court of Appeals for 
        the District of Columbia in Halberstam v. Welch, 705 F.2d 472 
        (D.C. Cir. 1983), which has been widely recognized as the 
        leading case regarding Federal civil aiding and abetting and 
        conspiracy liability, including by the Supreme Court of the 
        United States, provides the proper legal framework for how such 
        liability should function in the context of the Anti-Terrorism 
        Act of 1987 (22 U.S.C. 5201 et seq.).
            (9) The United Nations Security Council declared in 
        Resolution 1373, adopted on September 28, 2001, that all 
        countries have an affirmative obligation to ``[r]efrain from 
        providing any form of support, active or passive, to entities 
        or persons involved in terrorist acts,'' and to ``[e]nsure that 
        any person who participates in the financing, planning, 
        preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or in supporting 
        terrorist acts is brought to justice''.
            (10) Consistent with these declarations, no country has the 
        discretion to engage knowingly in the financing or sponsorship 
        of terrorism, whether directly or indirectly.
            (11) Persons, entities, or countries that knowingly or 
        recklessly contribute material support or resources, directly 
        or indirectly, to persons or organizations that pose a 
        significant risk of committing acts of terrorism that threaten 
        the security of nationals of the United States or the national 
        security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States, 
        necessarily direct their conduct at the United States, and 
        should reasonably anticipate being brought to court in the 
        United States to answer for such activities.
            (12) The United States has a vital interest in providing 
        persons and entities injured as a result of terrorist attacks 
        committed within the United States with full access to the 
        court system in order to pursue civil claims against persons, 
        entities, or countries that have knowingly or recklessly 
        provided material support or resources, directly or indirectly, 
        to the persons or organizations responsible for their injuries.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide civil litigants 
with the broadest possible basis, consistent with the Constitution of 
the United States, to seek relief against persons, entities, and 
foreign countries, wherever acting and wherever they may be found, that 
have provided material support or resources, directly or indirectly, to 
foreign organizations or persons that engage in terrorist activities 
against the United States.

SEC. 3. FOREIGN SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY.

    Section 1605(a) of title 28, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by amending paragraph (5) to read as follows:
            ``(5) not otherwise encompassed in paragraph (2), in which 
        money damages are sought against a foreign state arising out of 
        physical injury or death, or damage to or loss of property, 
        occurring in the United States and caused by the tortious act 
        or omission of that foreign state or of any official or 
        employee of that foreign state while acting within the scope of 
        the office or employment of the official or employee 
        (regardless of where the underlying tortious act or omission 
        occurs), including any statutory or common law tort claim 
        arising out of an act of extrajudicial killing, aircraft 
        sabotage, hostage taking, terrorism, or the provision of 
        material support or resources for such an act, or any claim for 
        contribution or indemnity relating to a claim arising out of 
        such an act, except this paragraph shall not apply to--
                    ``(A) any claim based upon the exercise or 
                performance of, or the failure to exercise or perform, 
                a discretionary function, regardless of whether the 
                discretion is abused; or
                    ``(B) any claim arising out of malicious 
                prosecution, abuse of process, libel, slander, 
                misrepresentation, deceit, interference with contract 
                rights, or any claim for emotional distress or 
                derivative injury suffered as a result of an event or 
                injury to another person that occurs outside of the 
                United States; or''; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the following:
    ``(e) Definitions.--For purposes of subsection (a)(5)--
            ``(1) the terms `aircraft sabotage', `extrajudicial 
        killing', `hostage taking', and `material support or resources' 
        have the meanings given those terms in section 1605A(h); and
            ``(2) the term `terrorism' means international terrorism 
        and domestic terrorism, as those terms are defined in section 
        2331 of title 18.''.

SEC. 4. AIDING AND ABETTING LIABILITY FOR CIVIL ACTIONS REGARDING 
              TERRORIST ACTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 2333 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Liability.--In an action arising under subsection (a), 
liability may be asserted as to the person or persons who committed 
such act of international terrorism or any person or entity that aided, 
abetted, or conspired with the person or persons who committed such an 
act of international terrorism.
    ``(e) Non-Applicability of Law of Preclusion.--Any civil action or 
claim that seeks recovery under this chapter for conduct that was the 
basis of a civil action or claim previously dismissed for lack of 
subject matter jurisdiction for failure to meet the requirements for an 
exception under section 1605(a) of title 28 is not subject to dismissal 
under the law of preclusion.''.
    (b) Effect on Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.--Nothing in the 
amendments made by this section affects immunity of a foreign state, as 
that term is defined in section 1603 of title 28, United States Code, 
from jurisdiction under other law.

SEC. 5. JURISDICTION FOR CIVIL ACTIONS REGARDING TERRORIST ACTS.

    Section 2334 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting at the end the following:
    ``(e) Jurisdiction.--The district courts shall have personal 
jurisdiction, to the maximum extent permissible under the 5th Amendment 
to the Constitution of the United States, over any person who commits, 
aids and abets an act of international terrorism, or provides material 
support or resources as set forth in sections 2339A, 2339B, or 2339C, 
for acts of international terrorism in which any national of the United 
States suffers injury in his or her person, property, or business by 
reason of such an act in violation of section 2333.''.

SEC. 6. LIABILITY FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN CIVIL ACTIONS REGARDING 
              TERRORIST ACTS.

    Section 2337 of title 18, United States Code, is amended to read as 
follows:
``Sec. 2337. Suits against Government officials
    ``No action may be maintained under section 2333 against--
    ``(a) the United States;
    ``(b) an agency of the United States; or
    ``(c) an officer or employee of the United States or any agency of 
the United States acting within the official capacity of the officer or 
employee or under color of legal authority.''.

SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY.

    If any provision of this Act or any amendment made by this Act, or 
the application of a provision or amendment to any person or 
circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this Act and the 
amendments made by this Act, and the application of the provisions and 
amendments to any other person not similarly situated or to other 
circumstances, shall not be affected by the holding.

SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply to any civil action 
pending on, or commenced on or after, the date of enactment of this 
Act.