Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-416_i4dj.pdf
Page Number: 14

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

1 

GORSUCH, J., concurring 

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 GORSUCH, with whom JUSTICE ALITO joins as to 
Part I, and with whom JUSTICE KAVANAUGH joins as to Part 
II, concurring. 

I  write  separately  to  add  two  points.  First,  this  Court 
granted  certiorari  to  consider  the  petitioners’  argument
that  the  Alien  Tort  Statute  (ATS)  exempts  corporations
from suit.  Rather than resolve that question, however, the
Court  rests  its  decision  on other grounds.    That  is  a  good 
thing:  The notion that corporations are immune from suit 
under the ATS cannot be reconciled with the statutory text 
and original understanding.  Second, the time has come to 
jettison the misguided notion that courts have discretion to
create new causes of action under the ATS—for the reasons 
JUSTICE THOMAS offers and others as well. 

I 
The First Congress enacted what we today call the ATS
as part of the Judiciary Act of 1789.  At the time, the ATS 
occupied only a paragraph in the larger statute, providing 
federal courts jurisdiction “concurrent with the courts of the