Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-1496_d18f.pdf
Page Number: 13.0

Cite as:  598 U. S. ____ (2023) 

7 

Opinion of the Court 

lawsuit, the plaintiff could recover treble damages and the 
cost of the suit, including attorney’s fees.  See 18 U. S. C. 
§2333(a).  But the ATA did not explicitly impose liability on 
anyone who only helped the terrorists carry out the attack
or conspired with them.  Prior to 2016, some courts accord-
ingly determined that the ATA did not authorize that sort 
of secondary civil liability.  See, e.g., Rothstein v. UBS AG, 
708 F. 3d 82, 97–98 (CA2 2013).

Then,  in  2016,  Congress  enacted  the  Justice  Against 
Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) to provide for a form of
secondary civil liability.  130 Stat. 852.  Thus, as the law 
now stands, those injured by an act of international terror-
ism  can  sue  the  relevant  terrorists  directly  under 
§2333(a)—or they can sue anyone “who aids and abets, by 
knowingly  providing  substantial  assistance,  or  who 
conspires with the person who committed such an act of in-
ternational  terrorism”  under  §2333(d)(2).    For  such  a 
secondary-liability claim, there is an additional condition: 
The “act of international terrorism” must have been “com-
mitted, planned, or authorized by an organization that had 
been designated as a foreign terrorist organization under [8
U. S. C. §1189] as of the date on which such act of interna-
tional  terrorism  was  committed,  planned,  or  authorized.” 
Ibid.  Plaintiffs seeking secondary liability can likewise re-
cover treble damages and the cost of the suit, including at-
torney’s fees.  See §§2333(a), (d)(2). 

The parties here do not dispute that the first three com-
ponents  of  §2333(d)(2)  have  been  adequately  alleged:  The 
Reina nightclub attack was an “act of international terror-
ism”;  the  attack  was  “committed,  planned,  or  authorized” 
by ISIS; and ISIS was “designated as a foreign terrorist or-
ganization”  as  of  the  date  of  the  Reina  nightclub  attack. 

—————— 

In  short,  the act  generally  must  be  violent,  criminal,  intended  to  in-
timidate or coerce civilians or a government, and occur either primarily 
outside the United States or transcending national boundaries.  See ibid.