Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-499_1a7d.pdf
Page Number: 31

Cite as:  584 U. S. ____ (2018) 

25 

Opinion of the Court 

the  United  States.  Congress,  not  the  Judiciary,  is  the
branch  with  “the  facilities  necessary  to  make  fairly  such 
an  important  policy  decision  where  the  possibilities  of 
international discord are so evident and retaliative action 
so  certain.”  Kiobel,  569  U. S.,  at  116  (internal  quotation 
marks  omitted).  As  noted  further  below,  there  are  many 
delicate and important considerations that Congress is in
a  better  position  to  examine  in  determining  whether  and
how best to impose corporate liability.  And, as the TVPA 
illustrates,  Congress  is  well  aware  of  the  necessity  of 
clarifying the proper scope of liability under the ATS in a
timely way. 

C 
The  ATS  was  intended  to  promote  harmony  in  interna-
tional relations by ensuring foreign plaintiffs a remedy for
international-law  violations  in  circumstances  where  the 
absence of such a remedy might provoke foreign nations to 
hold  the  United  States  accountable.  Brief  for  United 
States as Amicus Curiae 7.  But here, and in similar cases, 
the opposite is occurring.

Petitioners  are  foreign  nationals  seeking  hundreds  of 
millions  of  dollars  in  damages  from  a  major  Jordanian 
financial  institution  for  injuries  suffered  in  attacks  by 
foreign  terrorists  in  the  Middle  East.  The  only  alleged 
connections  to  the  United  States  are  the  CHIPS  transac-
tions in Arab Bank’s New York branch and a brief allega-
tion  regarding  a  charity  in  Texas.    The  Court  of  Appeals
did  not  address,  and  the  Court  need  not  now  decide, 
whether  these  allegations  are  sufficient  to  “touch  and
concern” the United States under Kiobel.  See 569 U. S., at 
124–125. 

At a minimum, the relatively minor connection between
the  terrorist  attacks  at  issue  in  this  case  and  the  alleged
conduct  in  the  United  States  well  illustrates  the  perils  of 
extending  the  scope  of  ATS  liability  to  foreign  multina-