The Supreme Court upheld a law Friday that allows victims of terrorism to sue Palestinian entities in U.S. courts.
The court ruled that the 2019 law, the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, does not violate the due process rights of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority.
The law reasonably took account of “sensitive foreign policy matters within the prerogative of the political branches,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote. As such, the law “comports with the Due Process Clause,” Roberts added.
Congress usually does not get involved in litigation, but after the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that courts in the U.S. did not have jurisdiction to hear the claims, they acted.
The lawsuits were brought under the Anti-Terrorism Act, which entitles plaintiffs to damages and attorney fees for international terrorism. The lawsuits were filed by victims of terrorism, one of the families being Ari Fuld’s, who was killed by a Palestinian terrorist in the West Bank in 2018. The PLO is representing the Palestinian people internationally and the Palestinian Authority is the partially-in-power government of the West Bank.
The courts had been trying to determine whether the defendants “consented” to the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. Congress wrote in the Anti-Terrorism Act law that consent is met when: they paid a terrorist convicted of or killed while committing a terrorist attack and that they conducted any activity within the U.S. within 15 days after the ATA was made law.
“For more than 30 years, I’ve advocated in Congress for the rights of victims and their families who are seeking to hold terrorist organizations and their financiers accountable for the evil they’ve inflicted,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who authored the law with Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), said in a statement celebrating the decision.
“But along the way, courts have undermined Congress’ intent and the laws we’ve enacted to deter terrorism,” Grassley said. “At long last, Americans impacted by international terrorism now have a clear path to justice. I hope today’s ruling brings some measure of peace to those who’ve been injured or suffered the loss of a loved one at the hands of Palestinian terrorist organizations. This decision sends a resounding message that foreign terrorists who intend to harm our countrymen can expect to feel the full weight of the U.S. justice system upon them,” he added.
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It’s unclear how the United States would enforce the lawsuits’ verdicts on Palestinian entities.
The Palestinian Authority told the Supreme Court that it does not “maintain any constitutionally meaningful connection to the United States,” and allowing federal courts to exercise jurisdiction over claims “for alleged attacks in Israel and Palestine would violate due process.”