Supreme Court Reins In Activist Lawsuits, Major Win for U.S. Businesses

Justice Thomas, in prior related writings referenced by the majority, reinforced originalist limits.

Justice Alito has similarly stressed caution against race- or group-based standards bleeding into other doctrines, though here the focus remained textual and structural.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson concurred in part and dissented in part, joined by Justice Elena Kagan.

She agreed on narrowing the ATS but argued the TVPA’s text could encompass aiding and abetting in some cases.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented more broadly, joined by Kagan and Jackson in key parts, claiming the majority “jettisons two decades of settled precedent” and warning it “forecloses future reliance on Sosa and shuts the courthouse doors to almost any claimed violation of international law under the ATS.”

Sotomayor added on the TVPA: “Because the plain text of this statute includes individuals who aid and abet the victim’s torture, I would affirm the Ninth Circuit’s judgment on this score as well.”