Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1496_d18f.pdf
Page Number: 12

6 

TWITTER, INC. v. TAAMNEH 

Opinion of the Court 

The District Court dismissed plaintiffs’ complaint for fail-
ure to state a claim.4  But the Ninth Circuit reversed, find-
ing  that  plaintiffs  had  plausibly  alleged  that  defendants
aided and abetted ISIS within the meaning of §2333(d)(2) 
and  thus  could  be  held  secondarily  liable  for  the  Reina
nightclub attack.  Gonzalez v. Google, 2 F. 4th 871 (2021). 
We granted certiorari to resolve whether plaintiffs have ad-
equately  stated  such  a  claim  under  §2333(d)(2).    See  598 
U. S. ___ (2022). 

II 
Section  2333  was  originally  enacted  as  part  of  the
Antiterrorism Act (ATA) in 1990.  104 Stat. 2250.  At that 
time, Congress authorized United States nationals or their 
“estate, survivors, or heirs” to bring civil lawsuits when “in-
jured  in  [their]  person,  property,  or  business by  reason  of
an act of international terrorism.”  Id., at 2251.5  In such a 

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4 Plaintiffs also raised other claims, including that defendants were di-
rectly liable for having provided material support to ISIS.  See, e.g., 18 
U. S. C. §§2333(a), 2339A, 2339B, 2339C.  The District Court dismissed 
those claims as well, and plaintiffs did not appeal them. 
5 The ATA defines “international terrorism” to mean 
“activities that— 
“(A)  involve  violent  acts  or  acts  dangerous  to  human  life  that  are  a 
violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State, or that 
would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the 
United States or of any State;

“(B) appear to be intended— 
“(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; 
“(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; 

or 

“(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assas-

sination, or kidnapping; and

“(C)  occur  primarily  outside  the  territorial  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States, or transcend national boundaries in terms of the means by which
they are accomplished, the persons they appear intended to intimidate 
or coerce, or the locale in which their perpetrators operate or seek asy-
lum.”  §2331(1).