Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-499_1a7d.pdf
Page Number: 89.0

32 

JESNER v. ARAB BANK, PLC 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

of  their  employees  and  subsidiaries  around  the  world,”  a 
prospect  that  will  deter  American  corporations  from  in­
vesting in developing economies.  Ante, at 24.  The plurality 
offers  no  empirical  evidence  to  support  these  alarmist 
conjectures, which is especially telling given that plaintiffs
have been filing ATS suits against foreign corporations in 
United  States  courts  for  years.    It  does  cite  to  an  amicus 
brief for the United States in American Isuzu Motors, Inc. 
v.  Ntsebeza,  see  ante,  at  24,  but  that  case  was  concerned 
with  the  availability  of  civil  aiding  and  abetting  liability,
not  corporate  liability  generally,  and  the  United  States 
never  contended  that  permitting  corporate  liability  under
the  ATS  would  undermine  global  investment.    Instead,  it 
argued  that  permitting  extraterritorial  aiding  and  abet­
ting cases would interfere with foreign relations and deter 
“the  free  flow  of  trade  and  investment.”  See  Brief  for 
United  States  as  Amicus  Curiae,  O. T.  2007,  No.  07–919, 
pp. 12–16,  20.    Driven  by  hypothetical  worry  about
besieged American corporations, today’s decision needlessly 
goes much further, encompassing all ATS suits against all
foreign  corporations,  not  just  those  cases  with  extraterri­
torial  dimensions  premised  on  an  aiding  and  abetting
theory. 

* 

* 

* 

In  sum,  international  law  establishes  what  conduct 

violates  the  law  of  nations,  and  specifies  whether,  to  con­
stitute a law-of-nations violation, the alleged conduct must 
be  undertaken  by  a  particular  type  of  actor.    But  it  is 
federal common law that determines whether corporations
may, as a general matter, be held liable in tort for law-of­
nations violations.  Applying that framework here, I would 
hold  that  the  ATS  does  not  categorically  foreclose  corpo­
rate liability.  Tort actions against corporations have long
been  available  under  federal  common  law.    Whatever  the 
majority  might  think  of  the  value  of  modern-day  ATS