Supreme Court agrees to hear case on violations of international law

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether two federal laws that allow lawsuits in U.S. courts for torture and serious violations of international law permit private lawsuits for aiding and abetting such conduct. That case, Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe I, was one of five cases in which the justices granted review on Friday afternoon. Two of the other cases that were granted – Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc.  v. Federal Communications Commission – will be argued together. The court released a brief list of orders announcing those grants; it is expected to issue a longer list of orders from its Jan. 9 conference at 9:30 a.m. EST on Monday, Jan. 12.

At issue in the Cisco Systems case are the Alien Tort Statute, which allows noncitizens to bring lawsuits in federal court for serious violations of international human-rights laws, and the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows victims of torture and extrajudicial killing to sue their overseas assailants in U.S. courts.

In the case, practitioners of the Falun Gong religion in China sued Cisco Systems, a U.S. company, and two of its executives for aiding and abetting violations of the ATS and the TVPA. The plaintiffs contend that Cisco and its executives developed and sold to the Chinese government a surveillance and internal-security system, which the Chinese government then used to find and interrogate Falun Gong practitioners.

A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit allowed the lawsuit to move forward, prompting Cisco to come to the Supreme Court seeking review. It argued (among other things) that neither law allows private plaintiffs to bring claims for aiding and abetting violations. In a brief filed in December at the Supreme Court’s invitation, the Trump administration urged the Supreme Court to weigh in on those questions.

The other cases granted on Friday afternoon include:

FCC v. AT&T and Verizon Communications v. FCC – Challenges to a federal law that allows the FCC to assess and enforce monetary penalties without guaranteeing the defendant a right to a jury trial

Sripetch v. Securities and Exchange Commission – Whether the SEC can require a defendant to give up profits or benefits without showing that investors suffered financial harm

Bondi v. Lau – An immigration case in which officials are seeking to deport a green card holder who was convicted of trademark counterfeiting and sentenced to probation

The cases granted on Friday will likely be argued in April, with a decision to follow by late June or early July.