March 5, 2012
On Feb. 28, I watched the Supreme Court hearing in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, which will decide whether corporations can be sued under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), a law that allows suits in federal courts for violations of international law. After reading some of the media reports on the argument, I can’t help but wonder if these reporters were in the same court as I was.
Several news stories and blog posts suggest that the Supreme Court is prepared to grant corporations immunity from human rights lawsuits. That was not a conclusion I thought could be easily drawn after the hearing. How will the Court actually rule? I don’t know, but it looks to me like a close vote. As usual, it may come down to Justice Kennedy.