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Page Number: 8

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JESNER v. ARAB BANK, PLC 

Opinion of the Court 

petitioners  now  seek  compensation.    Petitioners  seek  to 
prove Arab Bank helped the terrorists receive the moneys 
in part by means of currency clearances and bank transac-
tions  passing  through  its  New  York  City  offices,  all  by
means of electronic transfers. 

It  is  assumed  here  that  those  individuals  who  inflicted 
death or injury by terrorism committed crimes in violation
of well-settled, fundamental precepts of international law, 
precepts essential for basic human-rights protections.  It is 
assumed  as  well  that  individuals  who  knowingly  and 
purposefully  facilitated  banking  transactions  to  aid,  en-
able,  or  facilitate  the  terrorist  acts  would  themselves  be 
committing  crimes  under  the  same  international-law 
prohibitions. 

Petitioners  contend  that  international  and  domestic 
laws impose responsibility and liability on a corporation if 
its human agents use the corporation to commit crimes in
violation of international laws that protect human rights. 
The  question  here  is  whether  the  Judiciary  has  the  au-
thority, in an ATS action, to make that determination and 
then to enforce that liability in ATS suits, all without any
explicit authorization from Congress to do so. 

The  answer  turns  upon  the  proper  interpretation  and 
implementation  of  the  ATS.    The  statute  provides:  “The
district  courts  shall  have  original  jurisdiction  of  any  civil 
action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of 
the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.”  §1350.
The  Court  must  first  ask  whether  the  law  of  nations  im-
poses liability on corporations for human-rights violations
committed  by  its  employees.    The  Court  must  also  ask 
whether it has authority and discretion in an ATS suit to
impose  liability  on  a  corporation  without  a  specific  direc-
tion from Congress to do so.