Opinion ID: 175476
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Response to the majority's criticism of my arguments

Text: There is no inconsistency between my present position and my prior endorsement in Talisman of the reasoning set forth by Judge Katzmann in Khulumani. The majority assert that the position I now take contradicts the position I took in Talisman when I approved the reasoning Judge Katzmann set forth in Khulumani. They say I now ignore the international tribunals whose rulings I and Judge Katzmann previously found controlling, that I ignore the second step of Judge Katzmann's approach, and that I look to international tribunals only when they supply a norm with which [I agree]. Maj. Op. 146-47. These criticisms misunderstand both Judge Katzmann's arguments and mine. There is no inconsistency between my prior endorsement of the views Judge Katzmann expressed in Khulumani and those I express here. I do not ignore the judgments of international tribunals. I merely decline to draw illogical and unwarranted conclusions from them. In Khulumani, one of the main issues in dispute was whether civil liability for violations of international law may be imposed on an actor who participated in the violation of an international law norm as an aider and abetter. The district court had dismissed claims against alleged aiders and abetters on the ground that international law recognized no civil liability for aiding and abetting. See Ntsebeza v. Citigroup, Inc., 346 F.Supp.2d 538, 554 (S.D.N.Y.2004). Although numerous judgments in criminal proceedings had imposed criminal liability for aiding and abetting, the district court accorded them no significance, because they were criminal judgments which the district court believed were inapplicable to civil liability. Judge Katzmann found this reasoning erroneous and pointed out that we have consistently relied on criminal law norms in establishing the content of customary international law for purposes of the AT[S]. Khulumani, 504 F.3d at 270 n. 5. He concluded that if international criminal tribunals had ruled that aiding and abetting a violation of the law of nations was itself a violation of the law of nations, this answered the question posed in a civil suit under the ATS whether aiding and abetting violated the law of nations. He explained, Once a court determines that the defendants' alleged conduct falls within one of `the modest number of international law violations with a potential for personal liability' on the defendant's part . . . [t]he common law. . . permits the `independent judicial recognition of actionable international norms.' Id. at 269-70 (citations omitted). Judge Katzmann, in other words, looked at the norms of conduct established by international courts as violations of international law and concluded that conduct which constitutes a criminal violation of international law also violates international law for purposes of civil liability under the ATS. I agree completely with Judge Katzmann's reasoning. It does not follow, however, that if international tribunals withhold criminal liability from juridical entities for reasons that have nothing to do with whether they violated the conduct norms of international law, but result only from a perceived inappropriateness of imposing criminal judgments on artificial entities, there has been no violation of the norms of international law. Nothing in Judge Katzmann's opinion suggests that he would adopt the majority's position or that he would disagree with mine. As I have made clear, I do not oppose looking to the instruments of international law to determine whether there has been a violation of international law. That is exactly where one should look. And if they answer the question, that answer is determinative. What I oppose is drawing illogical and unwarranted inferences from the judgments of international tribunals, especially when those inferences are used to support rules that undermine the objectives of international law. The majority likewise attribute to Judge Katzmann the proposition that there is no distinction in international law between criminal and civil liability. Maj. Op. 147. Once again quoting out of context, the majority misunderstand Judge Katzmann's opinion. As noted above, the district court in Khulumani had disregarded the opinions of international tribunals which found violations based on aiding and abetting on the ground that those sources imposed criminal, and not civil, responsibility. Judge Katzmann's observation meant nothing more than that the district court was wrong to consider criminal judgments irrelevant to whether conduct constituted a violation of international law for purposes of civil liability. Judge Katzmann did not endorse, or even comment on, the majority's new proposition that withholding of criminal liability for a reason having nothing to do with whether the conduct norms of international law have been violated requires the conclusion that there has been no violation of international law. Nothing in Judge Katzmann's opinion suggests that, in considering the norms that may be violated by a private actor without State involvement, international law distinguishes between the liability of natural and juridical persons. Cf. Khulumani, 504 F.3d at 282 (Katzmann, J., concurring) (We have repeatedly treated the issue of whether corporations may be held liable under the AT[S] as indistinguishable from the question of whether private individuals may be.). To be sure, if international criminal tribunals followed a rule that the acts of juridical persons cannot violate international law because international law does not cover them, I, and presumably Judge Katzmann as well, would regard such rulings as determinative for ATS purposes. But international tribunals have made no such rulings. There is no inconsistency between my earlier endorsement of Judge Katzmann's reasoning and the reasoning I follow here. The majority's other criticisms of my opinion merely restate their arguments. I have answered these above.