Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-416_i4dj.pdf
Page Number: 1.0

(Slip Opinion) 

OCTOBER  TERM,  2020 

1 

Syllabus 

NOTE:  Where  it  is  feasible,  a  syllabus  (headnote)  will  be  released,  as  is 
being  done  in  connection  with  this  case,  at  the  time  the  opinion  is  issued. 
The  syllabus  constitutes  no  part  of  the  opinion  of  the  Court  but  has  been 
prepared  by  the  Reporter  of  Decisions  for  the  convenience  of  the  reader. 
See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

Syllabus 

NESTLE USA, INC. v. DOE ET AL. 

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR 
THE NINTH CIRCUIT 

No. 19–416.  Argued December 1, 2020—Decided June 17, 2021* 

Respondents  are  six  individuals  from  Mali  who  allege  that  they  were
trafficked into Ivory Coast as child slaves to produce cocoa.  U. S.-based 
companies Nestlé USA, Inc., and Cargill, Inc., do not own or operate 
cocoa farms in Ivory Coast, but they do buy cocoa from farms located 
there and provide those farms with technical and financial resources.
Respondents  sued  Nestlé,  Cargill,  and  others  under  the  Alien  Tort 
Statute  (ATS)—which  provides  federal  courts  jurisdiction  to  hear
claims brought “by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of
the law of nations or a treaty of the United States,” 28 U. S. C. §1350—
contending  that  this  arrangement  aids  and  abets  child  slavery.   Be-
cause  respondents’  injuries  occurred  overseas  and  the  only  domestic
conduct alleged by respondents was general corporate activity, the Dis-
trict Court dismissed the suit as an impermissible extraterritorial ap-
plication of the ATS under Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 569 
U. S. 108.  The Ninth Circuit held, as relevant, that respondents had 
pleaded a domestic application of the ATS, as required by Kiobel, be-
cause the corporations’ major operational decisions originated in the 
United States. 

Held: The judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded. 

929 F. 3d. 623, reversed and remanded. 

JUSTICE THOMAS delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to 
Parts I and II, concluding that respondents here improperly seek ex-
traterritorial application of the ATS.  The Court’s two-step framework 
for  analyzing  extraterritoriality  issues  first  presumes  that  a  statute 

—————— 

* Together with No. 19–453, Cargill, Inc. v. Doe et al., also on certiorari 

to the same court.