Will SCOTUS review Alien Tort Statute after D.C. Circuit ruling?
7/11/2011
Friday’s 151-page ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, reviving an Alien Tort Statute case accusing Exxon of abetting murder and torture in Indonesia, stands in direct contrast to a ruling last September by the Second Circuit, which determined that corporations cannot be held liable under the Alien Tort law. The issue of corporate liability under the ATS is now squarely before the U.S. Supreme Court, since the Nigerian plaintiffs in the Second Circuit case, Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, filed a June 13 certiorari petition asking for review of the appellate court’s holding. So with a clear split in the circuit courts, it’s a sure bet that the Supreme Court will take the case when the justices return from their summer break, right?