II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2040 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 

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

Mr. HATCH, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. LEE, 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. COONS, Mr. 

TILLIS, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. PERDUE, and Mr. MARKEY) 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: 


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1 (1) International terrorism is a serious and 

2 deadly problem that threatens the vital interests of 

3 the United States. 

4 (2) The Constitution confers upon Congress the 

5 power to punish crimes against the law of nations 

6 and therefore Congress may by law impose penalties 

7 on those who provide material support to foreign or8 ganizations engaged in terrorist activity, and allow 

9 for victims of international terrorism to recover 

10 damages from those who have harmed them. 

11 (3) International terrorism affects the inter12 state and foreign commerce of the United States by 

13 harming international trade and market stability, 

14 and limiting international travel by United States 

15 citizens as well as foreign visitors to the United 

16 States. 

17 (4) Some foreign terrorist organizations, acting 

18 through affiliated groups or individuals, raise signifi19 cant funds outside of the United States for conduct 

20 directed and targeted at the United States. 

21 (5) It is necessary to recognize the substantive 

22 causes of action for aiding and abetting and con23 spiracy liability under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 

24 1987 (22 U.S.C. 5201 et seq.). 


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1 (6) The decision of the United States Court of 

2 Appeals for the District of Columbia in Halberstam 

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

4 been widely recognized as the leading case regarding 

5 Federal civil aiding and abetting and conspiracy li6 ability, including by the Supreme Court of the 

7 United States, provides the proper legal framework 

8 for how such liability should function in the context 

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

10 et seq.). 

11 (7) The United Nations Security Council de12 clared in Resolution 1373, adopted on September 

13 28, 2001, that all countries have an affirmative obli14 gation to ‘‘[r]efrain from providing any form of sup15 port, active or passive, to entities or persons involved 

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

17 who participates in the financing, planning, prepara18 tion or perpetration of terrorist acts or in supporting 

19 terrorist acts is brought to justice’’. 

20 (8) Consistent with these declarations, no coun21 try has the discretion to engage knowingly in the fi22 nancing or sponsorship of terrorism, whether di23 rectly or indirectly. 

24 (9) Persons, entities, or countries that know25 ingly or recklessly contribute material support or reVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Sep 16, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2040.IS S2040

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1 sources, directly or indirectly, to persons or organi2 zations that pose a significant risk of committing 

3 acts of terrorism that threaten the security of na4 tionals of the United States or the national security, 

5 foreign policy, or economy of the United States, nec6 essarily direct their conduct at the United States, 

7 and should reasonably anticipate being brought to 

8 court in the United States to answer for such activi9 ties. 

10 (10) The United States has a vital interest in 

11 providing persons and entities injured as a result of 

12 terrorist attacks committed within the United States 

13 with full access to the court system in order to pur14 sue civil claims against persons, entities, or countries 

15 that have knowingly or recklessly provided material 

16 support or resources, directly or indirectly, to the 

17 persons or organizations responsible for their inju18 ries. 

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

20 civil litigants with the broadest possible basis, consistent 

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

22 against persons, entities, and foreign countries, wherever 

23 acting and wherever they may be found, that have pro24 vided material support, directly or indirectly, to foreign 


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1 organizations or persons that engage in terrorist activities 

2 against the United States. 

3 SEC. 3. FOREIGN SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY. 

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

5 amended— 

6 (1) by amending paragraph (5) to read as fol7 lows: 

8 ‘‘(5) not otherwise encompassed in paragraph 

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

10 foreign state arising out of physical injury or death, 

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

12 United States and caused by the tortious act or 

13 omission of that foreign state or of any official or 

14 employee of that foreign state while acting within 

15 the scope of the office or employment of the official 

16 or employee (regardless of where the underlying 

17 tortious act or omission occurs), including any statu18 tory or common law tort claim arising out of an act 

19 of extrajudicial killing, aircraft sabotage, hostage 

20 taking, terrorism, or the provision of material sup21 port or resources for such an act, or any claim for 

22 contribution or indemnity relating to a claim arising 

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

24 apply to— 


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

2 performance of, or the failure to exercise or 

3 perform, a discretionary function, regardless of 

4 whether the discretion is abused; or 

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

6 prosecution, abuse of process, libel, slander, 

7 misrepresentation, deceit, interference with con8 tract rights, or any claim for emotional distress 

9 or derivative injury suffered as a result of an 

10 event or injury to another person that occurs 

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

12 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol13 lowing: 

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

15 (a)(5)— 

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

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

18 resources’ have the meanings given those terms in 

19 section 1605A(h); and 

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

21 terrorism and domestic terrorism, as those terms are 

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


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1 SEC. 4. AIDING AND ABETTING LIABILITY FOR CIVIL AC2 TIONS REGARDING TERRORIST ACTS. 

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

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(d) LIABILITY.—In an action under subsection (a) 

7 for an injury arising from an act of international terrorism 

8 committed, planned, or authorized by an organization that 

9 had been designated as a foreign terrorist organization 

10 under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

11 (8 U.S.C. 1189), as of the date on which such act of inter12 national terrorism was committed, planned, or authorized, 

13 or that was so designated as a result of such act of inter14 national terrorism, liability may be asserted as to any per15 son who aided, abetted, or conspired with the person who 

16 committed such an act of international terrorism.’’. 

17 (b) EFFECT ON FOREIGN SOVEREIGN IMMUNITIES

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

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

20 in section 1603 of title 28, United States Code, from juris21 diction under other law. 

22 SEC. 5. PERSONAL JURISDICTION FOR CIVIL ACTIONS RE23 GARDING TERRORIST ACTS. 

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

25 amended by inserting at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(e) PERSONAL JURISDICTION.—The district courts 

2 shall have personal jurisdiction, to the maximum extent 

3 permissible under the 5th Amendment to the Constitution 

4 of the United States, over any person who commits or aids 

5 and abets an act of international terrorism or otherwise 

6 sponsors such act or the person who committed such act, 

7 for acts of international terrorism in which any national 

8 of the United States suffers injury in his or her person, 

9 property, or business by reason of such an act in violation 

10 of section 2333.’’. 

11 SEC. 6. LIABILITY FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN CIVIL 

12 ACTIONS REGARDING TERRORIST ACTS. 

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

14 amended to read as follows: 

15 ‘‘§ 2337. Suits against Government officials 

16 ‘‘No action may be maintained under section 2333 

17 against— 

18 ‘‘(1) the United States; 

19 ‘‘(2) an agency of the United States; or 

20 ‘‘(3) an officer or employee of the United States 

21 or any agency of the United States acting within the 

22 official capacity of the officer or employee or under 

23 color of legal authority.’’. 


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1 SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY. 

2 If any provision of this Act or any amendment made 

3 by this Act, or the application of a provision or amend4 ment to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, 

5 the remainder of this Act and the amendments made by 

6 this Act, and the application of the provisions and amend7 ments to any other person not similarly situated or to 

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

9 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

10 The amendments made by this Act shall apply to any 

11 civil action— 

12 (1) pending on, or commenced on or after, the 

13 date of enactment of this Act; and 

14 (2) arising out of an injury to a person, prop15 erty, or business on or after September 11, 2001. 

Æ 


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