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JESNER v. ARAB BANK, PLC 

Opinion of the Court 
Opinion of KENNEDY, J. 

specific,  universal,  and  obligatory.”    542  U. S.,  at  732 
(internal  quotation  marks  omitted).    And  even  assuming
that, under international law, there is a specific norm that
can be controlling, it must be determined further whether 
allowing  this  case  to  proceed  under  the  ATS  is  a  proper 
exercise  of  judicial  discretion,  or  instead  whether  caution 
requires  the  political  branches  to  grant  specific  authority 
before corporate liability can be imposed.  See id., at 732– 
733,  and  nn.  20–21.  “[T]he  potential  implications  for  the
foreign  relations  of  the  United  States  of  recognizing  such 
causes should make courts particularly wary of impinging 
on  the  discretion  of  the  Legislative  and  Executive 
Branches in managing foreign affairs.”  Id., at 727. 

It  must  be  said  that  some  of  the  considerations  that 
pertain to determining whether there is a specific, univer-
sal, and obligatory norm that is established under interna-
tional  law  are  applicable  as  well  in  determining  whether 
deference  must  be  given  to  the  political  branches.    For 
instance,  the  fact  that  the  charters  of  some  international 
tribunals  and  the  provisions  of  some  congressional  stat-
utes addressing international human-rights violations are
specifically  limited  to  individual  wrongdoers,  and  thus
foreclose  corporate  liability,  has  significant  bearing  both 
on the content of the norm being asserted and the question 
whether courts should defer to Congress.  The two inquir-
ies inform each other and are, to that extent, not altogether
discrete. 

With  that  introduction,  it  is  proper  now  to  turn  first  to
the  question  whether  there  is  an  international-law  norm
imposing liability on corporations for acts of their employ-
ees that contravene fundamental human rights. 

A 
Petitioners  and  Arab  Bank  disagree  as  to  whether  cor-
porate liability is a question of international law or only a 
question of judicial authority and discretion under domes-