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Page Number: 12

6 

JESNER v. ARAB BANK, PLC 

Opinion of the Court 

F. 3d, at 120.  Judge Cabranes relied in large part on the 
fact that international criminal tribunals have consistently
limited  their  jurisdiction  to  natural  persons.    Id.,  at  132– 
137. 

Judge  Leval  filed  a  separate  opinion.    He  concurred  in 
the  judgment  on  other  grounds  but  disagreed  with  the 
proposition that the foreign corporation was not subject to 
suit  under  the  ATS.    Id.,  at  196.    Judge  Leval  conceded 
that “international law, of its own force, imposes no liabili-
ties  on  corporations  or  other  private  juridical  entities.” 
Id.,  at  186.  But  he  reasoned  that  corporate  liability  for
violations of international law is an issue of “civil compen-
satory liability” that international law leaves to individual 
nations.  Ibid.  Later decisions in the Courts of Appeals for
the  Seventh,  Ninth,  and  District  of  Columbia  Circuits 
agreed with Judge Leval and held that corporations can be
subject to suit under the ATS.  See Flomo v. Firestone Nat. 
Rubber Co., 643 F. 3d 1013, 1017–1021 (CA7 2011); Doe I 
v.  Nestle  USA,  Inc.,  766  F. 3d  1013,  1020–1022  (CA9 
2014); Doe VIII v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 654 F. 3d 11, 40–55 
(CADC 2011), vacated on other grounds, 527 Fed. Appx. 7
(CADC  2013). 
The  respective  opinions  by  Judges
Cabranes and Leval are scholarly and extensive, providing 
significant guidance for this Court in the case now before 
it. 

With  this  background,  it  is  now  proper  to  turn  to  the

history of the ATS and the decisions interpreting it. 

B 
Under  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  the  Continental 
Congress  lacked  authority  to  “ ‘cause  infractions  of  trea-
ties,  or  of  the  law  of  nations  to  be  punished.’ ”    Sosa  v. 
Alvarez-Machain,  542  U. S.  692,  716  (2004)  (quoting  J. 
Madison, Journal of the Constitutional Convention 60 (E.
Scott  ed.  1893)).  The  Continental  Congress  urged  the
States to authorize suits for damages sustained by foreign