II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1535 

To deter terrorism, provide justice for victims, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013 

Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. COONS, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. 

GRAHAM, Mr. HATCH, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, 

and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To deter terrorism, provide justice for victims, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Justice Against Spon5 sors of Terrorism Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) International terrorism is a serious and 

9 deadly problem that threatens the vital interests of 

10 the United States. 


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1 (2) The Constitution confers upon Congress the 

2 power to punish crimes against the law of nations 

3 and to carry out the treaty obligations of the United 

4 States, and therefore Congress may by law impose 

5 penalties relating to the provision of material sup6 port to foreign organizations engaged in terrorist ac7 tivity, and allow for victims of international ter8 rorism to recover damages from those who have 

9 harmed them. 

10 (3) International terrorism affects the inter11 state and foreign commerce of the United States by 

12 harming international trade and market stability, 

13 and limiting international travel by United States 

14 citizens as well as foreign visitors to the United 

15 States. 

16 (4) Some foreign terrorist organizations, acting 

17 through affiliated groups or individuals, raise signifi18 cant funds outside of the United States for conduct 

19 directed and targeted at the United States. 

20 (5) Foreign organizations that engage in ter21 rorist activity are so tainted by their criminal con22 duct that any contribution to such an organization 

23 facilitates that conduct. 

24 (6) The imposition of civil liability at every 

25 point along the causal chain of terrorism is necVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:57 Sep 24, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1535.IS S1535

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1 essary to deter the flow of money, which is the life2 blood of terrorism. As recognized by Judge Richard 

3 Posner in Boim v. Holy Land Foundation for Relief 

4 and Development, 549 F.3d 685, 690–91 (7th Cir. 

5 2008) (en banc), ‘‘[d]amages are a less effective 

6 remedy against terrorists and their organizations 

7 than against their financial angels[,] . . . suits 

8 against financiers of terrorism can cut the terrorists’ 

9 lifeline’’. 

10 (7) It is necessary to explicitly recognize the 

11 substantive causes of action for aiding and abetting 

12 and conspiracy liability under the Anti-Terrorism 

13 Act of 1987 (22 U.S.C. 5201 et seq.), especially 

14 given that the United States Courts of Appeals for 

15 the 2d and 7th Circuits have held that such theories 

16 of liability currently are not available. See Rothstein 

17 v. UBS AG, 708 F.3d 82 (2d Cir. 2013); Boim v. 

18 Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, 

19 549 F.3d 685 (7th Cir. 2008) (en banc). 

20 (8) The decision of the United States Court of 

21 Appeals for the District of Columbia in Halberstam 

22 v. Welch, 705 F.2d 472 (D.C. Cir. 1983), which has 

23 been widely recognized as the leading case regarding 

24 Federal civil aiding and abetting and conspiracy li25 ability, including by the Supreme Court of the 


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1 United States, provides the proper legal framework 

2 for how such liability should function in the context 

3 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987 (22 U.S.C. 5201 

4 et seq.). 

5 (9) The United Nations Security Council de6 clared in Resolution 1373, adopted on September 

7 28, 2001, that all countries have an affirmative obli8 gation to ‘‘[r]efrain from providing any form of sup9 port, active or passive, to entities or persons involved 

10 in terrorist acts,’’ and to ‘‘[e]nsure that any person 

11 who participates in the financing, planning, prepara12 tion or perpetration of terrorist acts or in supporting 

13 terrorist acts is brought to justice’’. 

14 (10) Consistent with these declarations, no 

15 country has the discretion to engage knowingly in 

16 the financing or sponsorship of terrorism, whether 

17 directly or indirectly. 

18 (11) Persons, entities, or countries that know19 ingly or recklessly contribute material support or re20 sources, directly or indirectly, to persons or organi21 zations that pose a significant risk of committing 

22 acts of terrorism that threaten the security of na23 tionals of the United States or the national security, 

24 foreign policy, or economy of the United States, nec25 essarily direct their conduct at the United States, 


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1 and should reasonably anticipate being brought to 

2 court in the United States to answer for such activi3 ties. 

4 (12) The United States has a vital interest in 

5 providing persons and entities injured as a result of 

6 terrorist attacks committed within the United States 

7 with full access to the court system in order to pur8 sue civil claims against persons, entities, or countries 

9 that have knowingly or recklessly provided material 

10 support or resources, directly or indirectly, to the 

11 persons or organizations responsible for their inju12 ries. 

13 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide 

14 civil litigants with the broadest possible basis, consistent 

15 with the Constitution of the United States, to seek relief 

16 against persons, entities, and foreign countries, wherever 

17 acting and wherever they may be found, that have pro18 vided material support or resources, directly or indirectly, 

19 to foreign organizations or persons that engage in terrorist 

20 activities against the United States. 

21 SEC. 3. FOREIGN SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY. 

22 Section 1605(a) of title 28, United States Code, is 

23 amended— 

24 (1) by amending paragraph (5) to read as fol25 lows: 


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1 ‘‘(5) not otherwise encompassed in paragraph 

2 (2), in which money damages are sought against a 

3 foreign state arising out of physical injury or death, 

4 or damage to or loss of property, occurring in the 

5 United States and caused by the tortious act or 

6 omission of that foreign state or of any official or 

7 employee of that foreign state while acting within 

8 the scope of the office or employment of the official 

9 or employee (regardless of where the underlying 

10 tortious act or omission occurs), including any statu11 tory or common law tort claim arising out of an act 

12 of extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, hostage 

13 taking, terrorism, or the provision of material sup14 port or resources for such an act, or any claim for 

15 contribution or indemnity relating to a claim arising 

16 out of such an act, except this paragraph shall not 

17 apply to— 

18 ‘‘(A) any claim based upon the exercise or 

19 performance of, or the failure to exercise or 

20 perform, a discretionary function, regardless of 

21 whether the discretion is abused; or 

22 ‘‘(B) any claim arising out of malicious 

23 prosecution, abuse of process, libel, slander, 

24 misrepresentation, deceit, interference with con25 tract rights, or any claim for emotional distress 


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1 or derivative injury suffered as a result of an 

2 event or injury to another person that occurs 

3 outside of the United States; or’’; and 

4 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of subsection 

7 (a)(5)— 

8 ‘‘(1) the terms ‘aircraft sabotage’, ‘extrajudicial 

9 killing’, ‘hostage taking’, and ‘material support or 

10 resources’ have the meanings given those terms in 

11 section 1605A(h); and 

12 ‘‘(2) the term ‘terrorism’ means international 

13 terrorism and domestic terrorism, as those terms are 

14 defined in section 2331 of title 18.’’. 

15 SEC. 4. AIDING AND ABETTING LIABILITY FOR CIVIL AC16 TIONS REGARDING TERRORIST ACTS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2333 of title 18, United 

18 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol19 lowing: 

20 ‘‘(d) LIABILITY.—In an action arising under sub21 section (a), liability may be asserted as to the person or 

22 persons who committed such act of international terrorism 

23 or any person or entity that aided, abetted, or conspired 

24 with the person or persons who committed such an act 

25 of international terrorism. 


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1 ‘‘(e) NON-APPLICABILITY OF LAW OF PRE2 CLUSION.—Any civil action or claim that seeks recovery 

3 under this chapter for conduct that was the basis of a 

4 civil action or claim previously dismissed for lack of sub5 ject matter jurisdiction for failure to meet the require6 ments for an exception under section 1605(a) of title 28 

7 is not subject to dismissal under the law of preclusion.’’. 

8 (b) EFFECT ON FOREIGN SOVEREIGN IMMUNITIES

9 ACT.—Nothing in the amendments made by this section 

10 affects immunity of a foreign state, as that term is defined 

11 in section 1603 of title 28, United States Code, from juris12 diction under other law. 

13 SEC. 5. JURISDICTION FOR CIVIL ACTIONS REGARDING 

14 TERRORIST ACTS. 

15 Section 2334 of title 18, United States Code, is 

16 amended by inserting at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘(e) JURISDICTION.—The district courts shall have 

18 personal jurisdiction, to the maximum extent permissible 

19 under the 5th Amendment to the Constitution of the 

20 United States, over any person who commits, aids and 

21 abets an act of international terrorism, or provides mate22 rial support or resources as set forth in sections 2339A, 

23 2339B, or 2339C, for acts of international terrorism in 

24 which any national of the United States suffers injury in 


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1 his or her person, property, or business by reason of such 

2 an act in violation of section 2333.’’. 

3 SEC. 6. LIABILITY FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN CIVIL 

4 ACTIONS REGARDING TERRORIST ACTS. 

5 Section 2337 of title 18, United States Code, is 

6 amended to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘§ 2337. Suits against Government officials 

8 ‘‘No action may be maintained under section 2333 

9 against— 

10 ‘‘(a) the United States; 

11 ‘‘(b) an agency of the United States; or 

12 ‘‘(c) an officer or employee of the United States or 

13 any agency of the United States acting within the official 

14 capacity of the officer or employee or under color of legal 

15 authority.’’. 

16 SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY. 

17 If any provision of this Act or any amendment made 

18 by this Act, or the application of a provision or amend19 ment to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, 

20 the remainder of this Act and the amendments made by 

21 this Act, and the application of the provisions and amend22 ments to any other person not similarly situated or to 

23 other circumstances, shall not be affected by the holding. 


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1 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 The amendments made by this Act shall apply to any 

3 civil action pending on, or commenced on or after, the date 

4 of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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