The US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that federal courts cannot create new human rights claims under international law against tech firms.
“Today, we close the door that Sosa cracked and hold that courts may not create new causes of action for violations of international norms,” Barrett wrote, referring to the court’s 2004 precedent in Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain. “We also hold that the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, which contains an express cause of action, does not provide for aiding-and-abetting liability.”
The Falun Gong Lawsuit
The litigation originated from a lawsuit brought by unnamed practitioners of Falun Gong, a religious movement banned by the Chinese government. detention, and torture, aided in part by surveillance and networking infrastructure-specifically the “Golden Shield” project-engineered and sold by San Jose-based Cisco Systems and its top executives. While a federal district court initially dismissed the complaint, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit revived the claims, ruling that both statutes permitted aiding-and-abetting actions against domestic entities that knowingly facilitate violations of customary international law. The Supreme Court’s reversal brings an end to that theory.
Constitutional Separation of Powers