Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-416_i4dj.pdf
Page Number: 3.0

Cite as:  593 U. S. ____ (2021) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

Nos. 19–416 and 19–453 
_________________ 

19–416 

NESTLE USA, INC., PETITIONER 
v. 
JOHN DOE I, ET AL. 

19–453 

CARGILL, INC., PETITIONER 
v. 
JOHN DOE I, ET AL. 

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

[June 17, 2021] 

JUSTICE THOMAS  announced  the  judgment  of the  Court 
and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts 
I and II, and an opinion with respect to Part III, in which 
JUSTICE GORSUCH and JUSTICE KAVANAUGH join. 

The Alien Tort Statute (ATS) gives federal courts juris-
diction  to  hear  certain  civil  actions  filed  by  aliens.    28 
U. S. C.  §1350.    Although  this  jurisdictional  statute  does 
not create a cause of action, our precedents have stated that 
courts may exercise common-law authority under this stat-
ute to create private rights of action in very limited circum-
stances.  See, e.g., Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U. S. 692, 
724  (2004);  Hernández  v.  Mesa,  589  U. S.  ___,  ___,  ___ 
(2020) (slip op., at 6, 14).  Respondents here seek a judicially 
created cause of action to recover damages from American 
corporations  that  allegedly  aided  and  abetted  slavery 
abroad.   Although  respondents’  injuries  occurred  entirely