FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
ALEXIS HOLYWEEK SAREI; PAUL E.
NERAU; THOMAS TAMAUSI; PHILLIP
MIRIORI; GREGORY KOPA;
METHODIUS NESIKO; ALOYSIUS
MOSES; RAPHEAL NINIKU; GABRIEL
TAREASI; LINUS TAKINU, LEO WUIS;
MICHAEL AKOPE; BENEDICT PISI;
THOMAS KOBUKO; JOHN TAMUASI;
NORMAN MOUVO; JOHN OSANI; BEN No. 02-56256
KORUS; NAMIRA KAWONA; JOANNE
BOSCO; JOHN PIGOLO; MAGDALENE
D.C. No.
2:00-cv-11695-
PIGOLO, individually and on behalf MMM-MAN
of themselves and all others
similarly situated,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
RIO TINTO, PLC and RIO TINTO
LIMITED,
Defendants-Appellees.
19321
19322 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
ALEXIS HOLYWEEK SAREI; PAUL E.
NERAU; THOMAS TAMAUSI; PHILLIP
MIRIORI; GREGORY KOPA;
METHODIUS NESIKO; ALOYSIUS
MOSES; RAPHEAL NINIKU; GABRIEL
TAREASI; LINUS TAKINU, LEO WUIS;
MICHAEL AKOPE; BENEDICT PISI;
THOMAS KOBUKO; JOHN TAMUASI;
NORMAN MOUVO; JOHN OSANI; BEN No. 02-56390
KORUS; NAMIRA KAWONA; JOANNE
BOSCO; JOHN PIGOLO; MAGDALENE
D.C. No.
CV-00-11695-
PIGOLO, individually and on behalf MMM
of themselves and all others
similarly situated,
Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
RIO TINTO, PLC and RIO TINTO
LIMITED,
Defendants-Appellants,
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19323
ALEXIS HOLYWEEK SAREI; PAUL E.
NERAU; THOMAS TAMUASI; PHILLIP
MIRIORI; GREGORY KOPA;
METHODIUS NESIKO; ALOYSIUS
MOSES; RAPHEAL NINIKU; GARBIEL
TAREASI; LINUS TAKINU; LEO WUIS;
MICHAEL AKOPE; BENEDICT PISI;
THOMAS KOBUKO; JOHN TAMUASI; No. 09-56381
NORMAN MOUVO; JOHN OSANI; BEN
KORUS; NAMIRA KAWONA; JOANNE D.C. No.
BOSCO; JOHN PIGOLO; MAGDALENE 2:00-cv-11695-
PIGOLO, individually and on behalf
of themselves & all others
MMM-MAN
Central District of
similarly situated, California,
Plaintiffs-Appellees, Los Angeles
v. OPINION
RIO TINTO, PLC; RIO TINTO
LIMITED,
Defendants-Appellants,
and
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Movant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Margaret M. Morrow, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted
September 21, 2010—San Francisco, California
Filed October 25, 2011
19324 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
Before: Mary M. Schroeder, Harry Pregerson,
Stephen Reinhardt, Andrew J. Kleinfeld, Barry G. Silverman,
M. Margaret McKeown, Marsha S. Berzon,
Johnnie B. Rawlinson, Consuelo M. Callahan, Carlos T. Bea,
and Sandra S. Ikuta, Circuit Judges.
Opinion by Judge Schroeder;
Concurrence by Judge Reinhardt;
Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge Pregerson;
Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge McKeown;
Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge Bea;
Dissent by Judge Kleinfeld;
Dissent by Judge Ikuta
19330 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
COUNSEL
Steve W. Berman, Seattle, Washington, for plaintiffs-
appellants-appellees Alexis Holyweek Sarei, et al.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19331
Sri Srinivasan, Washington, DC, for defendants-appellees-
appellants Rio Tinto, PLC, et al.
OPINION
Opinion by Judge SCHROEDER, Circuit Judge, with whom
SILVERMAN and BERZON, Circuit Judges, join. PREGER-
SON and RAWLINSON, Circuit Judges, join as to all but
Parts IV(C) and (D) and partially join Part IV(B)(3). REIN-
HARDT, Circuit Judge, joins as to all but Part II(C) and Part
IV(B)(3), as to which he concurs in the result. McKEOWN,
Circuit Judge, joins as to all but Part IV(A)(3) and Part
IV(B)(4):
I. INTRODUCTION
This is an Alien Tort Statute (ATS) case arising out of the
operations of Rio Tinto mining group (Rio Tinto) on the
island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the
uprising against Rio Tinto in the late 1980’s that resulted in
the use of military force and many deaths. The Plaintiffs are
current or former residents of the island of Bougainville. The
ATS provides that “district courts shall have original jurisdic-
tion of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed
in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United
States.” 28 U.S.C. § 1350.
This is the second time this case has been before this en
banc court. See Sarei v. Rio Tinto PLC (Rio Tinto III), 550
F.3d 822, 825-26 (9th Cir. 2008). The facts are laid out com-
prehensively in the original district court opinion. See Sarei
v. Rio Tinto PLC (Rio Tinto I), 221 F. Supp. 2d 1116, 1121-
27 (C.D. Cal. 2002). The original three-judge panel majority
and dissenting opinions were divided on the issue of exhaus-
tion of local remedies. Sarei v. Rio Tinto PLC (Rio Tinto II),
487 F.3d 1193 (9th Cir. 2007). As a result, our first en banc
19332 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
decision focused on that issue. Rio Tinto III, 550 F.3d 822. A
majority of this en banc court took the view that exhaustion
must be considered, with the narrower, and therefore control-
ling, plurality opinion by Judge McKeown stating that only
prudential exhaustion principles apply. Id. at 832 n.10.
On remand, the district court held that it would be inappro-
priate to impose a prudential exhaustion requirement on Plain-
tiffs’ claims for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and
racial discrimination. Sarei v. Rio Tinto PLC (Rio Tinto IV),
650 F. Supp. 2d 1004, 1032 (C.D. Cal. 2009). It held the
remaining claims required exhaustion. The court, therefore,
gave Plaintiffs the choice either to withdraw or to submit the
following claims to the traditional two-step exhaustion analy-
sis: violation of the rights to health, life, and security of the
person; cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; international
environmental violations; and a consistent pattern of gross
human rights violations. Id.
Plaintiffs opted to withdraw those claims, reserving the
right to file an amended complaint if the matter is remanded.
Id. n.71. Thus, the only claims before this court on appeal are
Plaintiffs’ claims for genocide, crimes against humanity, war
crimes, and racial discrimination.
The ATS, as Judge Friendly explained more than three dec-
ades ago in ITT v. Vencap, Ltd., “is a kind of legal Lohengrin;
although it has been with us since the first Judiciary Act, § 9,
1 Stat. 73, 77 (1789), no one seems to know whence it came.”
519 F.2d 1001, 1015 (2d Cir. 1975). This case has been a per-
plexing one for the judges of this circuit because of the new
legal uncertainties in the application of the ATS that flowed
in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Sosa v.
Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692 (2004).
[1] In Sosa, the Supreme Court held that the ATS is a juris-
dictional grant for a limited category of claims for violation
of internationally accepted norms. 542 U.S. at 729. The stat-
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19333
ute was “enacted on the understanding that the common law
would provide a cause of action for the modest number of
international law violations . . . based on the present-day law
of nations . . . rest[ing] on a norm of international character
accepted by the civilized world and defined with a specificity
comparable to the features of the 18th-century paradigms we
have recognized [violation of safe conducts, infringement of
the rights of ambassadors, and piracy].” Id. at 724-25.
Internationally accepted norms must be “specific, universal,
and obligatory.” Sosa, 542 U.S. at 732 (citing with approval
In re Estate of Ferdinand Marcos, Human Rights Litig. (Mar-
cos II), 25 F.3d 1467, 1475 (9th Cir. 1994)). Thus, in discuss-
ing the definite nature of an international norm that gives rise
to a cause of action in an ATS suit against a private actor, the
Supreme Court also noted that “a related consideration is
whether international law extends the scope of liability for a
violation of a given norm to the perpetrator being sued, if the
defendant is a private actor such as a corporation or individu-
al.” Id. at 732 n.20.
With regard to the specific claims before us, we conclude
that only Plaintiffs’ claims of genocide and war crimes fall
within the limited federal jurisdiction created by the Act, and
that the crimes against humanity arising from a blockade and
the racial discrimination claims do not. Under international
law, there is a distinction between genocide and crimes
against humanity. We discuss this distinction in Section IV of
this opinion when we deal with the specific claims. Before
discussing each claim, however, we must deal with and reject
the more sweeping legal principles that Rio Tinto and our dis-
senting colleagues argue require dismissal of the entire action.
Those include the contentions that we lack jurisdiction under
the ATS because all of these claims arise extraterritorially, are
claims against corporations, or constitute claims of aiding and
abetting liability outside the scope of international law. We
also address Judge Ikuta’s dissenting contention, not raised by
any party, that the Act gives federal courts no authority to
19334 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
hear cases between aliens because cases under the ATS are
diversity cases that do not “arise under” the laws of the
United States. We then reach Rio Tinto’s alternative conten-
tions that the claims in this suit are nonjusticiable on the
grounds that they require prudential exhaustion, constitute
political questions, are barred by principles of international
comity, or invalidate acts of state.
Although the torts alleged all occurred outside of the
United States, Rio Tinto has substantial operations in this
country. According to the complaint, Rio Tinto operates in 40
different countries and, as of December 31, 1999, had consoli-
dated operating assets of nearly $13 billion—47% of which
are located in North America. Personal jurisdiction is not dis-
puted.
II. JURISDICTIONAL ISSUES
A. Extraterritoriality
Extraterritoriality is generally a question of statutory inter-
pretation going to the merits of a case. Morrison v. Nat’l Aus-
tralia Bank Ltd., 130 S. Ct. 2869, 2877 (2010). Because the
Supreme Court in Sosa established that the ATS is a jurisdic-
tional statute, 542 U.S. at 712, however, and because Rio
Tinto argues that we lack jurisdiction to apply the Act
extraterritorially, we consider extraterritoriality in this case
under the heading of jurisdictional issues.
This case concerns conduct that occurred outside the
United States. Rio Tinto points to a series of cases that deny
extraterritorial effect and pertain to a variety of other statutes
in order to argue that the ATS does not apply extraterritori-
ally. EEOC v. Arabian Am. Oil Co. (Aramco), 499 U.S. 244
(1991) (Title VII); The Apollon, 22 U.S. 362 (1824) (Collec-
tion Act of 1799); United States v. Palmer, 16 U.S. 610
(1818) (Act for the Punishment of Certain Crimes Against the
United States); Rose v. Himley, 8 U.S. 241 (1808) (French
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19335
condemnation laws). Additionally, in an earlier order pub-
lished in this appeal, as well as in our earlier en banc opinion,
Judge Kleinfeld dissented, as he does now, on the ground that
the ATS applies to conduct only within the United States.
[2] Our circuit has addressed this same issue once before.
In In re Estate of Ferdinand Marcos, Human Rights Litig.
(Marcos I), 978 F.2d 493, 499-501 (9th Cir. 1992), we con-
sidered an ATS claim based on torture that took place in the
Philippines. We categorically rejected the argument that the
ATS applies only to torts committed in this country. We said,
“we are constrained by what § 1350 shows on its face: no lim-
itations as to the citizenship of the defendant, or the locus of
the injury.” Id. at 500. In fact, the seminal and most widely
respected applications of the statute relate to conduct that took
place outside the United States. See Kadic v. Karadzic, 70
F.3d 232 (2d Cir. 1995) (Bosnia-Herzegovina); Marcos I, 978
F.2d 493 (Philippines); Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, 630 F.2d 876
(2d Cir. 1980) (Paraguay). The D.C. Circuit has recently con-
cluded that there is no bar to the ATS’s applicability to for-
eign conduct because the Supreme Court in Sosa did not
disapprove these seminal decisions and Congress, in enacting
the Torture Victim Protection Act, implicitly ratified such law
suits. Doe v. Exxon Mobil Corp., No. 09-7125, 2011 WL
2652384, at *25 (D.C. Cir. July 8, 2011); see also, Flomo v.
Firestone Nat’l Rubber, Co., No. 10-3675, 2011 WL
2675924, at *24 (7th Cir. July 11, 2011)..
Moreover, we know from Sosa, that the Congress in 1789
had overseas conduct in mind. The Supreme Court in Sosa
explained that when the Act was enacted, in 1789, piracy was
one of the paradigmatic classes of cases recognized under the
ATS. 542 U.S. at 724; see also United States v. Smith, 5
Wheat. 153, 163-180, n.a (1820) (cited favorably in Sosa, 542
U.S. at 732) (illustrating the specificity with which the law of
nations defined piracy). In fact, the North African Barbary
Pirates were the scourge of shipping at the time of the ATS’s
passage. ADRIAN TINNISWOOD, PIRATES OF BARBARY: CORSAIRS,
19336 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
CONQUESTS, AND CAPTIVITY IN THE 17th CENTURY MEDITERRA-
NEAN (2010). They roamed the Mediterranean region high-
jacking trading vessels, enslaving their crews, and plundering
their cargoes. Id. Their attacks against American ships gave
rise to the creation of the U.S. Navy in 1794, shortly after the
passage of the ATS. A. B. C. WHIPPLE, TO THE SHORES OF
TRIPOLI: THE BIRTH OF THE U.S. NAVY AND MARINES (1991,
republished in 2001).
Morrison, upon which Judge Kleinfeld’s dissent predomi-
nantly relies, concerned the scope of § 10(b) of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934. It employed a “presumption against
extraterritoriality” and tracked the presumption’s lineage to
cases dating from 1932 onward. Id. at 2877-78 (citing Black-
mer v. United States, 284 U.S. 421 (1932); Foley Bros., Inc.
v. Filardo, 336 U.S. 281 (1949); Aramco, 499 U.S. 244; Smith
v. United States, 507 U.S. 197 (1993); Sale v. Haitian Ctrs.
Council, Inc., 509 U.S. 155 (1993)). There is no indication in
Morrison, however, or elsewhere, that a “presumption against
extraterritoriality” existed and could have been invoked by
Congress in 1789.
The Court held in Morrison that § 10(b) did not apply to
securities transactions conducted in other nations, stating that
“[w]hen a statute gives no clear indication of an extraterrito-
rial application, it has none.” 130 S. Ct. at 2878. Morrison,
however, did not require that Congress use the precise word
“extraterritorial” in a statute to establish such applicability. It
required only that there be a “clear indication,” stating that
such an indication may come from either the text or the con-
text of the statute. Id. at 2883.
[3] There is more than one “clear indication” of extraterri-
torial applicability in both the ATS’s text and its context. The
ATS provides for jurisdiction “of any civil action by an alien
. . . committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty
of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 1350. The statute creates
jurisdiction for claims brought by persons who are not citi-
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19337
zens of this country. The statute’s explicit reference to the law
of nations indicates that we must look beyond the law of the
United States to international law in order to decide what torts
fall under its jurisdictional grant. Piracy was one of the para-
digmatic classes of cases recognized under the ATS when it
was enacted. These are all indications of extraterritorial appli-
cability.
[4] In his dissent, Judge Kleinfeld acknowledges that Con-
gress expressly intended to include claims of piracy within the
ambit of the ATS. Nevertheless, he discounts such inclusion
for purposes of the statute’s extraterritorial applicability. He
states that while piracy occurs outside the United States, it
takes place on the high seas, so there is no potential for inter-
ference with another nation’s sovereignty. He argues that,
after Morrison, the express inclusion of piracy as a claim
under the ATS can no longer support the statute’s extraterrito-
rial application. Morrison, however, is very specific about the
language of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and how it
pertains to our own “national public interest.” It focuses on
the domestic history of the implementation of § 10(b). Morri-
son describes Congress as generally enacting statutes that
apply in our country, but says nothing about any concerns for
the sovereignty of other nations. It provides no reasoning to
undermine our conclusion that by recognizing an ATS claim
for piracy, Congress intended extraterritorial application of
the statute. Judge Kleinfeld accuses us of ignoring concerns
about interference with national sovereignty. Yet, the
Supreme Court in Sosa took such concerns fully into account
when it held that ATS jurisdiction was limited to claims in
violation of universally accepted norms. 543 U.S. at 727-28.
[5] Moreover, the ATS is a jurisdictional statute; federal
courts frequently exercise jurisdiction with regard to matters
occurring out of the country, subject to forum non conveniens
and conflict of law principles. See Filartiga, 630 F.2d at 885
(“Common law courts of general jurisdiction regularly [have]
adjudicate[d] transitory tort claims between individuals over
19338 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
whom they exercise personal jurisdiction, wherever the tort
occurred.” (emphasis added)); see also Marcos I, 978 F.2d at
499-50 (rejecting the argument “that there is no extraterrito-
rial jurisdiction over civil actions based on torture”). The
norms being applied under the ATS are international, not
domestic, ones, derived from international law. As a result,
the primary considerations underlying the presumption
against extraterritoriality—the foreign relations difficulties
and intrusions into the sovereignty of other nations likely to
arise if we claim the authority to require persons in other
countries to obey our laws—do not come into play. This is
because, Judge Kleinfeld’s contention notwithstanding, we
are not asserting an entitlement to “make law” for the “entire
planet.” Kleinfeld op. at 19431. Instead, and especially in
light of Sosa, the ATS provides a domestic forum for claims
based on conduct that is illegal everywhere, including the
place where that conduct took place. It is no infringement on
the sovereign authority of other nations, therefore, to adjudi-
cate claims cognizable under the ATS, so long as the require-
ments for personal jurisdiction are met.
The only circuit decision to apply Morrison in a case other
than in a securities case is Norex Petroleum v. Access Indus.,
631 F.3d 29 (2d Cir. 2010). It dealt with the Racketeer Influ-
enced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), enacted in
1970. There, the Second Circuit, in an amended opinion,
applied the Morrison presumption and dismissed a RICO
action founded on conduct occurring in Russia. That decision
was consistent with the Second Circuit’s precedent, as that
circuit had earlier held that RICO had no extraterritorial appli-
cation because it contained no language suggesting extraterri-
torial applicability. See North South Fin. Corp. v. Al-Turki,
100 F.3d 1046, 1051 (2d Cir. 1996), abrogated on other
grounds by Norex.
[6] We deal with the ATS, not RICO or a securities act.
There are strong indications that Congress intended the ATS
to provide jurisdiction for certain violations of international
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19339
law occurring outside the United States, and there are no indi-
cations to the contrary. We therefore conclude that the ATS
is not limited to conduct occurring within the United States or
to conduct committed by United States citizens. The ATS, of
course, expressly creates jurisdiction for claims asserted by
aliens, so that there can be no dispute that claims may, indeed
must, be asserted by entities that are not citizens of the United
States.
[7] There is no extraterritorial bar to applying the ATS to
the conduct alleged in this case.
B. Corporate Liability
Defendants are all corporate entities, referred to collec-
tively as Rio Tinto, and they contend that the ATS does not
apply to corporations. We believe there are two separate but
related inquiries with respect to corporate liability in this case.
The first is whether, as Rio Tinto argues, the statute itself bars
all corporate liability, and to the extent it applies to private
actors, permits liability only as to individuals. The second is
whether, if there is no overall statutory bar to corporate liabil-
ity, the particular internationally accepted norm alleged to
have been violated recognizes corporate liability. We deal, at
this point, with the first, and more general inquiry.
Rio Tinto urges us to hold that the ATS bars corporate lia-
bility. This is a view that is to some extent supported by the
recent Second Circuit majority opinion in Kiobel v. Royal
Dutch Petroleum Co., holding that customary international
law as a whole “has not to date recognized liability for corpo-
rations that violate its norms.” 621 F.3d 111, 125 (2d Cir.
2010). We, however, conclude the sounder view is that
expressed in Judge Leval’s concurrence. Id. at 153 (Leval, J.,
concurring) (“No principle of domestic or international law
supports the majority’s conclusion that the norms enforceable
through the ATS—such as the prohibition by international
law of genocide, slavery, war crimes, piracy, etc.—apply only
19340 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
to natural persons and not to corporations, leaving corpora-
tions immune from suit and free to retain profits earned
through such acts.”).
In its brief, Rio Tinto looks principally to treaties establish-
ing international tribunals for criminal trials—i.e. the Rome
Statute and the Rwanda War Crimes Commission—which do
not explicitly provide for corporate liability. The appropriate
inquiry, however, is to look at the ATS itself and to the inter-
national law it incorporates. Sosa, 542 U.S. at 733.
We have already recognized the importance of looking at
the statutory language and purpose. Our circuit’s most recent
decision on corporate civil liability in an international context
is Bowoto v. Chevron, 621 F.3d 1116 (2010), where we held
that the Torture Victim Protection Act’s express language and
documented legislative history reflected congressional intent
to limit liability under that statute to individuals. The statute
created a civil action for recovery of damages “from an indi-
vidual,” id. at 1126, and the legislative history demonstrated
that Congress considered and rejected corporate liability, id.
at 1127.
[8] The ATS contains no such language and has no such
legislative history to suggest that corporate liability was
excluded and that only liability of natural persons was
intended. We therefore find no basis for holding that there is
any such statutory limitation. This is also the view supported
by a distinguished contemporary scholar, Harold Hongju Koh,
Separating Myth from Reality About Corporate Responsibility
Litigation, 7 J. INT’L ECON. L. 263, 266-67 (2004). The D.C.
Circuit has recently reached the same conclusion. Doe, at *84.
With respect to whether corporate liability exists in any
given ATS case, the most recent controlling Supreme Court
decision is, of course, Sosa, which defines the scope of the
ATS in terms of internationally accepted norms and frames
the question of whether a particular defendant may be held
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19341
liable in terms of the nature of the particular norm alleged to
have been violated. In discussing the definite nature of an
international norm required to invoke jurisdiction over a cause
of action under the ATS, the Court noted:
A related consideration is whether international law
extends the scope of liability for a violation of a
given norm to the perpetrator being sued, if the
defendant is a private actor such as a corporation or
individual.
542 U.S. at 733 n.20.
[9] Sosa expressly frames the relevant international-law
inquiry to be the scope of liability of private actors for a viola-
tion of the “given norm,” i.e. an international-law inquiry spe-
cific to each cause of action asserted. See id. (citing the
Second Circuit’s decision in Kadic, 70 F.3d 232, where both
the majority and the dissent applied international law princi-
ples, and citing the D.C. Circuit’s decision in Tel-Oren v. Lib-
yan Arab Republic, 726 F.2d 774 (D.C. Cir. 1984), which also
looks at international law). The proper inquiry, therefore,
should consider separately each violation of international law
alleged and which actors may violate it. Where no norm of
international law sufficiently “specific, universal and obliga-
tory” has been alleged to give rise to a cause of action, the
ATS claim must be dismissed and we need not reach the
question of corporate liability. Marcos II, 25 F.3d at 1475.
We therefore address the scope of liability for private
actors, including corporate liability, with respect to those
claims we conclude can allege a violation of a sufficiently
established international norm. There is no legitimate basis
for Rio Tinto’s position that the statute itself is a complete bar
to corporate liability.
C. Aiding and Abetting Liability
[10] In this court, although not below, Rio Tinto argues
that the ATS does not encompass aiding and abetting liability.
19342 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
For purposes of considering this issue, we assume, without
deciding, that the complaint alleges such liability with respect
to the war crimes that could be said to have been committed
by PNG with the aid of Rio Tinto. Like the inquiry into cor-
porate liability, and for similar reasons, the inquiry into aiding
and abetting liability is an international-law inquiry. See
Khulumani v. Barclay Nat’l Bank Ltd., 504 F.3d 254, 268-77
(2d Cir. 2007) (Katzmann, J. concurring) (“aiding and abet-
ting liability, . . . is sufficiently well established and univer-
sally recognized to be considered customary international
law”) (citations, internal quotation marks, and alterations
omitted).
[11] The Second and Eleventh Circuits have recognized
that aiding and abetting may give rise to an ATS claim.
Khulumani, 504 F.3d at 260; Romero v. Drummond Co., 552
F.3d 1303, 1315 (11th Cir. 2008) (“[T]he law of this Circuit
permits a plaintiff to plead a theory of aiding and abetting lia-
bility under the Alien Tort Statute.”). As Judge Katzman’s
concurrence in Khulumani noted, in that case the United
States conceded and the defendants did not dispute, the well-
established international law concept of aiding and abetting.
540 F.3d at 270. The D.C. Circuit recently reached the same
conclusion. Doe, at *29. We agree. The ATS itself does not
bar aiding and abetting liability. In Part IV. B., we engage in
the required international law inquiry and discuss the avail-
ability of aiding and abetting liability for war crimes.
D. Arising Under Jurisdiction
This is a case brought under the ATS, which is a law
enacted by our First Congress. Judge Ikuta’s dissent argues,
however, that federal courts under the ATS lack jurisdiction
to adjudicate claims brought by an alien against an alien. In
her view, in adjudicating claims under the ATS we are exer-
cising foreign diversity jurisdiction and not dealing with a
claim “arising under” the laws of the United States pursuant
to Article III of the Constitution. Our circuit has addressed
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19343
this same issue once before in Marcos I and concluded that
ATS claims arise under federal law. 978 F.2d at 502-03.
There, we held “that Congress had the power through the
‘Arising Under’ Clause of Article III of the Constitution to
enact the Alien Tort Statute.” Id. Some eleven years later, we
applied that precedent while sitting en banc in Alvarez-
Machain v. United States, 331 F.3d 604, 612 (9th Cir. 2003)
(en banc), rev’d sub nom. Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S.
692 (2004). Although Sosa reversed Alvarez-Machain, it did
so on unrelated grounds, and did nothing to call into question
the holding that we have jurisdiction to hear claims cogniza-
ble under the ATS because they “arise under” federal law for
Article III purposes. Indeed, the best reading of Sosa is that
it confirms our circuit law on this point, to which we adhere
today.
Judge Ikuta’s dissent emphasizes Sosa’s characterization of
the ATS as a jurisdictional statute. Although the Supreme
Court in Sosa described the ATS as “jurisdictional in nature,”
542 U.S. at 713, the Court rejected defendant’s argument that
the ATS “does no more than vest the federal court with juris-
diction.” Id. Rather, the Court held “that federal courts could
entertain claims once the jurisdictional grant was on the
books, because torts in violation of the law of nations would
have been recognized within the common law of the time.”
See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 714 (citing Brief of Professors of Fed-
eral Jurisdiction and Legal History as Amici Curiae in Sup-
port of Respondents, 2004 WL 419425). The Court said:
“Although we agree the statute is in terms only jurisdictional,
we think that at the time of enactment the jurisdiction enabled
federal courts to hear claims in a very limited category
defined by the law of nations and recognized at common
law.” Id. at 712.
[12] Judge Ikuta’s repeated assertion that Sosa held that
the ATS is “a purely jurisdictional statute” is thus misleading,
omitting the nuance in the Sosa opinion. See Ikuta op. at
19469, 19482. What Sosa actually said is that although the
19344 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
statute is written as a grant of jurisdiction, it was understood
at the time of its passage that the common law would provide
a cause of action for violations of the law of nations or a
treaty of the United States. See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 713-14. In
other words, Sosa holds that the ATS was enacted to provide
jurisdiction to hear claims brought pursuant to causes of
action that already existed at common law.
Of course, as Justice Scalia points out in Sosa, the “com-
mon law” at the time was “the so-called general common
law,” and not federal law. Id. at 739 (Scalia, J., concurring)
(“General common law was not federal law under the
Supremacy Clause.”). As one of our colleagues has explained,
claims arising under the general common law did not arise
under federal law or state law. “Federal and state courts adju-
dicating questions of general common law were not adjudicat-
ing questions of federal or state law, respectively—the
general common law was neither.” William A. Fletcher, Inter-
national Human Rights in American Courts, 93 VA. L. REV.
IN BRIEF 1, 2 (2007) (“[B]y the early nineteenth century it had
become clear that the general law, including the law of
nations, was not federal law in either the jurisdiction-
conferring or supremacy-clause sense.”).
But the concept of the “common law” changed dramatically
after Erie R.R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U.S. 64 (1938). After
Erie, we no longer recognize a “general” common law as
applicable in federal courts. Now, when federal courts decide
claims arising under federal common law or federal statutes,
they are applying federal law. As both the Sosa majority and
Justice Scalia’s concurrence point out, following Erie “[t]here
developed a specifically federal common law.” Id. at 741
(Scalia, J., concurring); see also id. at 726 (maj. op.) (“Erie
. . . was the watershed in which we denied the existence of
any federal ‘general’ common law . . . .” (citation omitted)).
[13] Most important for present purposes, there is no ques-
tion that claims premised on federal common law arise under
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19345
the law of the United States. See, e.g., Illinois v. City of Mil-
waukee, 406 U.S. 91, 100 (1972) (“We see no reason not to
give ‘laws’ its natural meaning, and therefore conclude that
§ 1331 jurisdiction will support claims founded upon federal
common law as well as those of a statutory origin.” (citation
omitted)); 19 C. Wright, A. Miller, & E. Cooper, Federal
Practice and Procedure § 4514, 455 (2d ed. 1996) (“A case
‘arising under’ federal common law presents a federal ques-
tion and as such is within the original subject-matter jurisdic-
tion of the federal courts.”).
Judge Ikuta’s dissent insists that even today, more than sev-
enty years after Erie, cases brought pursuant to the ATS do
not “arise under” the Constitution or laws of the United States
for Article III purposes. In essence, she maintains that as a
claim brought under the ATS would not have arisen under the
laws of the United States for Article III purposes at the time
the ATS was enacted—because, as we have explained, the
cause of action would have been supplied by the “general”
common law, which did not confer jurisdiction—it cannot do
so now, even though the “general” common law no longer
exists. Couching her argument in terms of Congressional
intent, within the framework of the law in existence in 1789,
Judge Ikuta ignores the subsequent development of the law
that Sosa so clearly explained and endorsed taking into
account. In fact, an entire subsection of the opinion (IV.B)
was devoted to explaining why, despite the changed under-
standing of “the common law,” the judiciary retains the
power, “subject to vigilant doorkeeping,” to recognize inter-
national norms as actionable under the ATS. Sosa, 542 U.S.
at 729. Although Sosa gave several reasons for this holding,
most relevant to highlighting the degree to which it foreclosed
Judge Ikuta’s current argument is its response to Justice
Scalia. Justice Scalia argued that the changes wrought by Erie
“preclude federal courts from recognizing any further interna-
tional norms as judicially enforceable today, absent congres-
sional action.” Id. at 729. The majority responded:
19346 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
We think an attempt to justify such a position would
be particularly unconvincing in light of what we
know about congressional understanding bearing on
this issue lying at the intersection of the judicial and
legislative powers. The First Congress, which
reflected the understanding of the framing generation
and included some of the Framers, assumed that fed-
eral courts could properly identify some international
norms as enforceable in the exercise of [ATS] juris-
diction. We think it would be unreasonable to
assume that the First Congress would have expected
federal courts to lose all capacity to recognize
enforceable international norms simply because the
common law might lose some metaphysical cachet
on the road to modern realism.
Id. at 729-30 (emphasis added).
Sosa went on to caution that it did not “imply that every
grant of jurisdiction to a federal court carries with it an oppor-
tunity to develop common law.” Id. at 731 n.19. It rejected the
argument that “the grant of federal-question jurisdiction
[under 28 U.S.C. § 1331] would be equally as good” as the
ATS, and for two reasons. Id. First, the ATS “was enacted on
the congressional understanding that courts would exercise
jurisdiction by entertaining some common law claims derived
from the law of nations,” whereas federal question jurisdic-
tion pursuant to § 1331 was not “extended subject to any
comparable congressional assumption.” Id. Second, although
“international disputes implicating . . . our relations with for-
eign nations are one of the narrow areas in which federal
common law continues to exist,” id. at 730 (citation and quo-
tation marks omitted, alteration in original), “a more expan-
sive common law power related to 28 U.S.C. § 1331” might
not be “consistent with the division of responsibilities
between federal and state courts after Erie,” id. at 729 n.19.
After Erie, the federal common law is developed only in “in-
terstitial areas of particular federal interest.” Id. at 726. In
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19347
other words, § 1331 did not make the ATS superfluous,
because only the ATS carries with it the Congressional
assumption that the judiciary would use it to develop the com-
mon law in an area of particular federal interest: international
relations.
[14] In short, we read Sosa to permit courts to develop the
federal common law by incorporating into it certain claims
that derive from norms of international law—but only after
determining that they meet the Sosa standards limiting those
norms for ATS purposes. Sosa’s limitations on claims cogni-
zable under the ATS, moreover, are themselves substantive
federal law, just as the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
(FSIA)’s statutory limitations on the sovereign immunity
defenses available to foreign governments in American courts
are substantive federal law. See FSIA, 28 U.S.C. § 1330(a);
Verlinden B.V. v. Cent. Bank of Nigeria, 461 U.S. 480, 493-94
(9183) (“At the threshold of every action in a District Court
against a foreign state, . . . the court must satisfy itself that
one of the [FSIA’s] exceptions applies—and in doing so it
must apply the detailed federal law standards set forth in the
[FSIA]. Accordingly, an action against a foreign sovereign
arises under federal law, for purposes of Article III jurisdic-
tion.”).
Thus, it is by now widely recognized that the norms Sosa
recognizes as actionable under the ATS begin as part of inter-
national law—which, without more, would not be considered
federal law for Article III purposes—but they become federal
common law once recognized to have the particular character-
istics required to be enforceable under the ATS. See Fletcher,
supra, at 8 (“[D]espite its lack of discussion, the Court’s deci-
sion necessarily implies that the federal common law of cus-
tomary international law is jurisdiction-conferring.”); see
also, e.g., Harold Hongju Koh, How Is International Human
Rights Law Enforced?, 74 IND. L.J. 1397, 1413 (1999)
(describing this “legal internalization”); Harold Hongju Koh,
Is International Law Really State Law?, 111 HARV. L. REV.
19348 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
1824, 1835 (1998) (same); see also Alvarez-Machain, 331
F.3d at 649-50 (O’Scannlain, J., dissenting) (“The ATS’s con-
formity with Article III rests on the incorporation of the law
of nations as federal common law.”); RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF
FOREIGN RELATIONS § 111, cmt. e (1987) (“[C]ases arising
under customary international law . . . are ‘Cases . . . arising
under . . . the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made
. . . under their Authority,’ and therefore within the Judicial
Power of the United States under Article III, Section 2 of the
Constitution.” (all but first alteration in original)).
The Supreme Court in Sosa put it this way: “[F]ederal
courts should not recognize private claims under federal com-
mon law for violations of any international law norm with less
definite content and acceptance among civilized nations than
the historical paradigms familiar when § 1350 was enacted.”
542 U.S. at 732. The clear implication of these instructions is
that claims that meet this exacting standard are “recognize[d]
. . . under federal common law.” Id.; see also id. (recognizing
that ATS claims are “private claims under federal common
law for violations of . . . international law norm[s]”); id. at
745 n.* (Scalia, J., concurring) (“[A] federal-common-law
cause of action of the sort the Court reserves discretion to
create would ‘arise under’ the laws of the United States . . .
for purposes of statutory federal-question jurisdiction.”
(emphasis omitted)).
Judge Ikuta’s assertion that “international law is not itself
part of the ‘Laws of the United States’ for purposes of Article
III” is therefore not wrong, but it is incomplete. More accu-
rately, it should state: The norms underlying international law
torts are not itself part of the “Laws of the United States” for
purposes of Article III until they have been incorporated into
the federal common law pursuant to the exacting process
articulated in Sosa.
Other aspects of Sosa confirm this conclusion. Sosa itself
was a suit between two aliens. Two of the amicus briefs sub-
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19349
mitted on behalf of the respondent in Sosa pointed out the
alleged Article III deficiency that Judge Ikuta asserts exists
here. See Brief for the National Foreign Trade Council, et al.,
as Amici Curiae, 2004 WL 162760, at 24-25 (Jan. 23, 2004)
(“Some ATS suits (including this one) feature aliens suing
aliens—making the suits ineligible for federal diversity juris-
diction. For the suits to be maintainable, therefore, they would
have to fall under another head of Article III jurisdiction—
probably jurisdiction for ‘Cases . . . arising under . . . the
Laws of the United States.’ But, . . . international law itself,
without some congressional action incorporating it into posi-
tive domestic law, is not law of the United States for Article
III purposes. Reading the ATS as permitting suits based only
on generalized international law, with no further specification
by statute or treaty, would mean the statute attempted to pro-
vide jurisdiction well beyond the Article III limits.” (citations
omitted, emphasis in the original)); see also Brief of Wash-
ington Legal Foundation, et al. as Amici Curiae, 2004 WL
162759, at *14-19 (Jan. 23, 2004) (arguing that “a claimed
violation of an international-law norm that has not been codi-
fied in a federal treaty or statute does not present a federal
question or arise under federal law”).
The Sosa Court’s obvious awareness of the potential Arti-
cle III problem, moreover, makes even more significant
Sosa’s acknowledgment that the ATS will call upon the fed-
eral courts “to consider suits under rules that would go so far
as to claim a limit on the power of foreign governments over
their own citizens, and to hold that a foreign government or
its agent has transgressed those limits.” Sosa, 542 U.S. at 727.
The paradigmatic example of a suit that could “claim a limit
on the power of foreign governments over their own citizens”
is a case such as this one, where a foreign plaintiff is suing
a foreign defendant for a tort committed in a foreign country.
We are, of course, cognizant of Sosa’s warning regarding “the
potential implications for the foreign relations of the United
States of recognizing such causes,” id.—a concern that we
address in Part III.B—but Sosa clearly contemplated that
19350 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
courts would at least have subject-matter jurisdiction, under
appropriate circumstances, to hear cases brought under the
ATS in which foreign plaintiffs allege that they have been
wronged by their (foreign) governments. We are unwilling to
assume, as Judge Ikuta apparently does, that the Sosa Court
would warn us to be careful regarding the foreign-policy
implications of hearing a type of case over which we lack
subject matter jurisdiction entirely—particularly when the
alleged jurisdictional defects of which Judge Ikuta complains
were brought to its attention.
Others agree that Sosa stands for the proposition that
claims cognizable under the ATS arise under the federal com-
mon law, and therefore provide subject matter jurisdiction.
See Fletcher, supra, at 7-8 (explaining that, after Sosa, we
know “that there is a federal common law of international
human rights based on customary international law” and that
“the federal common law of customary international law is
federal law in both the jurisdiction-conferring and supremacy-
clause senses”); see also, e.g., Khulumani, 504 F.3d at 265
(Katzmann, J., concurring) (explaining how “Sosa makes
clear that all ATCA litigation is in fact based on federal com-
mon law, rather than a statutory cause of action”); id. at 286
(Hall, J., concurring) (“[A]lthough the substantive norm to be
applied is drawn from international law or treaty, any cause
of action recognized by a federal court is one devised as a
matter of federal common law.” (quoting the Brief for the
United States of America as Amicus Curiae at 5 (alteration in
the original))); William R. Casto, The New Federal Common
Law of Tort Remedies for Violations of International Law, 37
RUTGERS L.J. 635, 638 (2006) (“Sosa squarely holds that ATS
litigation is based upon a federal common law cause of action
. . . .”); Ernest A. Young, Sosa and the Retail Incorporation
of International Law, 120 HARV. L. REV. F. 28, 31, 33 (2007)
(“Sosa is best read as recognizing a federal common law
implied right of action for the violation of certain [customary
international law] rules of decision. . . . [O]nce Sosa recog-
nized a federal right of action, that recognition was sufficient
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19351
to bring such claims within current understandings of Article
III’s ‘arising under’ jurisdiction.”).
To further support the proposition that the ATS does not
arise under the laws of the United States, Judge Ikuta points
out that admiralty law does not arise under the laws of the
United States. Am. Ins. Co. v. 356 Bales of Cotton, 26 U.S.
511, 545 (1828). Judge Ikuta, however, overlooks the reason.
Admiralty law does not “arise under” federal law for Article
III purposes because admiralty and maritime law have been
carved out by the Supreme Court as special in this regard, for
reasons wholly inapplicable to claims cognizable under the
ATS. See Romero v. Intern’l Terminal Operating Co., 358
U.S. 354, 359-80 (1959).
Article III has three specific grants of subject-matter juris-
diction. U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 1-3 (including cases aris-
ing under, cases affecting ambassadors, and cases of
admiralty). In the seminal case upon which Judge Ikuta relies,
Chief Justice Marshall reasoned that: “The Constitution cer-
tainly contemplates these as three distinct classes of cases;
and if they are distinct, the grant of jurisdiction over one of
them, does not confer jurisdiction over either of the other
two.” 356 Bales of Cotton, 26 U.S. at 545. For that reason, as
well as for reasons specific to notions of the “general common
law” that no longer prevail, 356 Bales of Cotton held that “[a]
case in admiralty does not, in fact, arise under the Constitu-
tion or laws of the United States.” Id.
[15] In conclusion, the controlling decision of the Supreme
Court, Sosa, and the overwhelming weight of scholarly
authority all compel us to hold that an ATS case “arises
under” the laws of the United States and calls for the exercise
of federal question jurisdiction pursuant to Article III.
19352 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
III. NONJUSTICIABILITY ISSUES
A. Prudential Exhaustion
This en banc court in the controlling plurality opinion by
Judge McKeown “remanded for the limited purpose to deter-
mine in the first instance whether to impose an exhaustion
requirement on plaintiffs” and in the same opinion outlined a
framework. Rio Tinto III, 550 F.3d at 831-21. The opinion
explained that “[t]he lack of a significant U.S. ‘nexus’ is an
important consideration in evaluating whether plaintiffs
should be required to exhaust their local remedies in accor-
dance with the principle of international comity.” Id. at 831.
It went on to point out that “[t]he nature of certain allegations
and the gravity of the potential violations of international
law” trigger America’s “historical commitment to upholding
customary international law.” Id. The opinion expressly stated
that prudential exhaustion “is not a prerequisite to jurisdic-
tion” but is a principle that governs the timing of decision
making. Id. at 828.
This is consistent with the Supreme Court’s observation in
Sosa that exhaustion might be warranted when “appropriate”
in ATS cases, 542 U.S. at 733 n.21, and led the plurality of
this en banc court to observe that in ATS cases “[w]here the
United States ‘nexus’ is weak, courts should carefully con-
sider the question of exhaustion, particularly—but not
exclusively—with respect to claims that do not involve mat-
ters of ‘universal concern.’ ” 550 F.3d 824. The district court
was bound by that directive, and, since the nexus of the
claims to the United States was weak, concluded exhaustion
was required for all claims other than those involving matters
of universal concern. Rio Tinto IV, 650 F. Supp. at 1031.
Defendants now maintain in this appeal that the district
court’s analytical framework on remand was flawed and that
the district court did not consider the question of exhaustion
with sufficient care. Defendants reason that if the district
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19353
court had given the issue careful consideration it would have
concluded that exhaustion was required for all of the claims,
essentially asserting that exhaustion is always required. This
is not consistent with the controlling plurality’s view that the
universality of the norm alleged to have been violated is a fac-
tor in determining whether exhaustion is required, and that all
claims, including claims with a weak nexus to the United
States should not, for exhaustion purposes, be treated the
same. Rio Tinto III, 550 F.3d at 831.
[16] The district court did not abuse its discretion when it
considered whether exhaustion was required under the con-
trolling plurality opinion of this court. The controlling ratio-
nale of our prior en banc decision did not require dismissal of
the entire action for failure to exhaust.
B. Political Question, International Comity, Act of
State
[17] Courts have long been hesitant to decide issues that
might infringe upon the conduct of the Executive Branch and
hence have been concerned about what are characterized as
“political questions.” The doctrine “derives from the judicia-
ry’s concern for its possible interference with the conduct of
foreign affairs by the political branches of the government.”
DeRoburt v. Gannett Co., 733 F.2d 701, 703 (9th Cir. 1984).
The district court originally dismissed all claims in this case
as nonjusticiable political questions, relying on the initial
position taken by the United States Department of State that
interference with our relations with PNG might result from
adjudication. Rio Tinto I, 221 F. Supp. at 1193-1199, 1208-
09. Cases raising political questions are nonjusticiable. Mar-
bury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, 170 (1803).
Courts considering the political question doctrine begin
with Baker v. Carr, in which the Supreme Court described the
doctrine as a function of the separation of powers and set
forth six factors that require the dismissal of a suit under the
19354 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
political question doctrine if any one of them is “inextricable
from the case at bar.” 369 U.S. 186, 217 (1962). Rio Tinto
argues that four of the six Baker factors are at issue here:
1. “a textually demonstrable constitutional commit-
ment of the issue to a coordinate political depart-
ment”;
***
4. “the impossibility of a court’s undertaking inde-
pendent resolution without expressing lack of
the respect due coordinate branches of govern-
ment”;
5. “an unusual need for unquestioning adherence to
a political decision already made”; or
6. “the potentiality of embarrassment from multi-
farious pronouncements by various departments
on one question.”
Id.
We will address each of these factors in turn and must, if
any is inextricable from the case, dismiss the entire action as
nonjusticiable. See Corrie v. Caterpillar, Inc., 503 F.3d 974,
980 (9th Cir. 2007).
In evaluating whether this case involves matters submitted
to another branch, the first Baker factor, we are mindful that
the conduct of foreign policy is not the role of the courts. In
this case, “we are not faced with analyzing a specific clause
of the Constitution but rather proceed from the understanding
that the management of foreign affairs predominantly falls
within the sphere of the political branches and the courts con-
sistently defer to those branches.” Alperin v. Vatican Bank,
410 F.3d 532, 549 (9th Cir. 2005). The political question
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19355
inquiry “is a case-by-case inquiry because it is error to sup-
pose that every case or controversy which touches foreign
relations lies beyond judicial cognizance.” Id. (citations and
quotation marks omitted).
Congress expressly enacted the ATS to provide a forum for
resolution of tort claims. The law to be applied emanates from
international sources, and its application could call into ques-
tion the actions of other nations in a way that could affect our
foreign relations. This case, however, in no way calls upon
the courts to judge the conduct of foreign relations by the
United States government. The United States was not directly
or indirectly involved in any of the events that occurred in
PNG. This is not a case like Corrie in which the United States
government financed the conduct plaintiffs sought to chal-
lenge. See 503 F.3d at 982 (explaining that the political ques-
tion doctrine bars jurisdiction where the case would “at least
implicitly” require the court to pass judgment on United
States foreign policy). Nor does the fact that we must look to
international law create a political question. See Deutsch v.
Turner Corp., 324 F.3d 692, 713 n.11 (9th Cir. 2003)
(explaining that the application of treaty law does not auto-
matically raise a nonjusticiable question). An ATS suit, such
as this one, requires courts to apply the law of nations, as
manifested in customary international law integrated into the
United States’ common law.
The fourth, fifth and sixth Baker factors are relevant in an
ATS case “if judicial resolution of a question would contra-
dict prior decisions taken by a political branch in those limited
contexts where such contradiction would seriously interfere
with important governmental interests.” Kadic, 70 F.3d at
249. Since the facts of this case present no question regarding
the actual conduct of United States foreign policy, if there is
any lack of respect due coordinate branches it must concern
the executive’s foreign policy interests related to this case. In
asking whether adjudication of this matter would display a
lack of respect for coordinate branches, we must ask whether
19356 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
another branch has taken any action that could be jeopardized
by our exercise of jurisdiction over this case.
The United States Department of State originally submitted
a Statement of Interest (SOI) which concluded that “continued
adjudication of the claims . . . would risk a potentially serious
adverse impact on the peace process, and hence on the con-
duct of our foreign relations.” The State Department was pri-
marily concerned that adjudication of this case could
invalidate acts of reconciliation that had already occurred in
the war between PNG and the people of Bougainville and
would “sweep away the basis of the peace agreement.” The
SOI also noted the PNG’s strong objection to these proceed-
ings. Thus, in response to Plaintiffs’ original appeal, Rio
Tinto supported the dismissal of the suit by arguing that there
would be interference with U.S. foreign relations and relied
on the SOI. When this en banc court remanded to consider
prudential exhaustion, it did not expressly consider the issue.
Rio Tinto III, 550 F.3d 822. We now do.
The political situation has significantly changed since the
district court originally heard this case. Neither the PNG nor
the US government now oppose the litigation going forward.
In fact, in a letter sent on May 26, 2009, the PNG expressly
urged that the case “be heard by courts in the United States”
explaining that the Bougainville Government does “not see
the case . . . adversely affecting any relations between us and
[the] United States.” The US government, for its part, has told
this court in its briefs that it no longer believes foreign policy
concerns are material in this case and has expressly stated that
it is not “seeking dismissal of the litigation based on purely
case-specific foreign policy concerns.” Thus, there is no lon-
ger any basis for a fear of interference by the courts in the
conduct of foreign affairs.
[18] This case presents exactly the types of questions that
courts are well-suited to resolve: whether actions were lawful
under specific and obligatory laws, whether the defendants
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19357
are responsible for such actions, and whether the plaintiffs are
entitled to relief. The political question doctrine is thus no bar
to our exercise of jurisdiction.
[19] Rio Tinto has also argued that all of Plaintiffs’ claims
are barred by the international comity doctrine, but that argu-
ment fails for similar reasons. Comity is rooted in interna-
tional relations. “Comity refers to the spirit of cooperation in
which a domestic tribunal approaches the resolution of cases
touching the laws and interests of other sovereign states.”
Societe Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale v. United States
District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, 482 U.S.
522, 544 n.27 (1987). It is out of that very spirit of coopera-
tion and deference to tribunals in other nations that we held
exhaustion may be a prudential bar to certain claims under the
ATS. Rio Tinto III, 550 F.3d at 828-31. In particular, we
instructed the district court to evaluate “whether plaintiffs
should be required to exhaust their local remedies in accor-
dance with the principle of international comity.” Id. at 831.
The district court’s consideration of exhaustion was suffi-
cient to alleviate comity concerns. In considering whether
exhaustion was required, the district court considered the uni-
versality of the norm and the nexus (or lack thereof) to the
United States. Rio Tinto IV, 650 F.2d at 1014-31. In holding
that the jus cogens violations alleged do not require exhaus-
tion, the district court balanced the multiple concerns animat-
ing the comity doctrine. Id. at 1030-31.
The district court’s earlier dismissal on comity grounds was
predicated in large part on PNG’s opposition. Rio Tinto I, 221
F. Supp. 2d 1116, 1199-1204. Such opposition is no longer
present, and, in fact, the government of PNG has expressed its
position that this action should go forward. Sarei v. Rio Tinto,
Nos. 02-56256 and 02-56390, Order Granting Judicial Notice,
Docket No. 354 (9th Cir. Oct. 26, 2010). In light of both the
exhaustion analysis conducted by the district court and the
19358 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
position of the PNG government, we conclude that comity
does not bar any of the claims.
[20] Finally, Rio Tinto argues that the act of state doctrine
requires dismissal of Plaintiffs’ claims. This argument also
fails. “The act of state doctrine . . . precludes the courts of this
country from inquiring into the validity of the public acts a
recognized foreign sovereign power committed within its own
territory.” Banco Nacional de Cuba, 376 U.S. at 401. How-
ever, jus cogens norms are exempt from the doctrine, since
they constitute norms “from which no derogation is permit-
ted.” Siderman de Blake v. Republic of Argentina, 965 F.2d
699, 714 (9th Cir. 1992) (quoting the Vienna Convention on
the Law of Treaties) (internal quotations omitted); see id. at
718 (holding a violation of a jus cogens norm is not a sover-
eign act). Thus, Plaintiffs’ claims that allege jus cogens viola-
tions are not barred by the act of state doctrine.
IV. THE SPECIFIC CLAIMS THE DISTRICT COURT
HELD WERE MATTERS OF UNIVERSAL CON-
CERN
We turn to the specific claims that the district court deter-
mined were within the jurisdiction of the ATS as alleged in
Plaintiffs’ complaint. They are genocide, war crimes, crimes
against humanity, and racial discrimination. As a threshold
matter, we explain why we consider genocide and crimes
against humanity separately.
The complaint, the district court decisions, and other ATS
decisions have often conflated consideration of genocide and
crimes against humanity. See Rio Tinto I, 221 F. Supp. at
1149-51; see also Kiobel, 621 F.3d at 112. Genocide and
crimes against humanity, however, are distinct under interna-
tional law and should be considered separately. The statute of
every modern international criminal tribunal has included sep-
arate articles for genocide and crimes against humanity (not,
for example, making genocide a sub-section of the article pro-
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19359
hibiting crimes against humanity). See The Rome Statute of
the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute), arts. 6-7,
opened for signature July 17, 1998, 37 I.L.M. 1002; Statute
of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugosla-
via (ICTY Statute), arts. 4-5; Statute of the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR Statute), arts. 2-3. In
addition, the Genocide Convention makes no mention of
crimes against humanity. See Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Conven-
tion), Dec. 9, 1948, S. Exec. Doc. O, 81-1 (1949), 78
U.N.T.S. 277. The elements of each violation under interna-
tional law are therefore different; for that reason we consider
each separately.
A. Genocide
The complaint alleges genocide against the indigenous pop-
ulation of the island of Bougainville in violation of the Con-
vention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide.
1. The prohibition against genocide is a specific, uni-
versal, and obligatory internationally accepted
norm.
The concept of genocide as an internationally accepted
norm was a product of World War II. Genocide was first
defined in 1948 in the Genocide Convention as “any of the
following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or
in part, a national, ethnic[ ], racial or religious group, as
such:”
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to mem-
bers of the group;
19360 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of
life calculated to bring about its physical destruction
in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births
within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to
another group.
Genocide Convention, art. II.
The United States ratified the Convention, although without
a declaration as to whether or not the treaty was self-
executing. This approach was in contrast to that taken with
regard to ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination, which contained a declaration that it
was not self-executing. See Genocide Convention Implemen-
tation Act of 1987, 18 U.S.C. § 1091 et seq. The Genocide
Convention Implementation Act of 1987 incorporated the
Genocide Convention’s definition, with minor differences in
language that are not significant. 18 U.S.C. § 1091(a). The
Act included a provision, cited by Justice Scalia in his Sosa
concurrence, that it should not “be construed as creating any
substantive or procedural right enforceable by law by any
party in any proceeding.” 542 U.S. at 749 (Scalia, J. concur-
ring) (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 1092). This did not, however,
affect the availability of an ATS claim. As the Second Circuit
has noted, the “decision not to create a new private remedy”
does not repeal the pre-existing remedy under the ATS.
Kadic, 70 F.3d at 242 (emphasis added).
Accordingly, even accepting Justice Scalia’s argument that
the treaty ratification itself did not create a remedy, the status
of genocide as a jus cogens norm remains indisputable. See,
e.g., Restatement Third, §§ 404, 702, Siderman de Blake, 965
F.2d at 717. Genocide has been criminalized by all of the
international criminal tribunals. Rome Statute, art. 6; ICTY
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19361
Statute, art. 4; ICTR Statute art. 2. The Genocide Convention
has been ratified by more than 140 nations. U.S. Department
of State, Treaties in Force (2010). The Convention itself
makes clear the non-derogable nature of the prohibition by
establishing that “constitutional rulers,” among other parties,
may be punished for genocide and that the prohibition applies
irrespective of peace or war. Genocide Convention, arts. I, IV.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) reiterated that the pro-
hibition on genocide is a jus cogens norm in a 2007 opinion.
Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia, 2007 I.C.J. 91, ¶ 161 (Feb.
26).
In addition, the jus cogens norm prohibiting genocide is
sufficiently specific to give rise to an ATS claim. The defini-
tion of genocide was first articulated in the Genocide Conven-
tion, quoted above, but it has been repeatedly reaffirmed in
international and domestic law since 1948. Notably, the Con-
vention’s definition has been incorporated, with insignificant
modifications, into domestic law in the form of the Genocide
Convention Implementation Act of 1987. See 18 U.S.C.
§ 1091(a). One-hundred and forty other nations have agreed
upon this definition of genocide. Dep’t of State, Treaties in
Force (2010). International tribunals have, with uniformity,
applied the same definition. Rome Statute, art. 6 (criminaliz-
ing genocide); ICTY Statute, art. 4 (same); ICTR Statute, art.
2 (same).
[21] Claims of genocide, therefore, fall within the limited
category of claims constituting a violation of internationally
accepted norms for ATS jurisdiction. Sosa, 542 U.S. at 729.
They are not barred by the act of state doctrine because viola-
tions of jus cogens norms are not sovereign acts. See Sider-
man de Blake, 965 F.3d at 718. Rio Tinto does not contend
otherwise.
2. The jus cogens prohibition of genocide extends to
corporations.
Having determined that the jus cogens prohibition of geno-
cide is sufficiently specific, universal, and obligatory to give
19362 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
rise to an ATS claim, we must next consider whether the
forms of liability alleged in the complaint are cognizable in
such an action. We have, in Section II.B supra, already
rejected Rio Tinto’s contention that the ATS itself bars corpo-
rate liability across the board.
[22] Article IX of the Genocide Convention provides that
contracting parties may submit disputes to the ICJ “including
those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide or
any of the other acts enumerated in article III.” Genocide
Convention, art. IX. The ICJ has made it explicitly clear that
a state may be responsible for genocide committed by groups
or persons whose actions are attributable to states. Bosnia and
Herzegovina, 2007 I.C.J. at ¶ 167. This clarity about collec-
tive responsibility implies that organizational actors such as
corporations or paramilitary groups may commit genocide.
Given the universal nature of the prohibition, if an actor is
capable of committing genocide, that actor can necessarily be
held liable for violating the jus cogens prohibition on geno-
cide. Indeed, the implication that an actor may avoid liability
merely by incorporating is inconsistent with the universal and
absolute nature of the prohibition against genocide. See Kio-
bel, 621 F.3d at 149-153 (Leval, J. concurring).
The ICJ has so recognized. Examining the treaty and other
sources of customary international law in 2007, the ICJ held
“Contracting Parties to the Convention are bound not to com-
mit genocide, through the actions of their organs or persons
or groups whose acts are attributable to them.” Bosnia and
Herzegovina, 2007 I.C.J. ¶ 167. The ICJ acknowledged that
the Convention did not explicitly provide for direct state
responsibility for the commission of genocide, but held “[i]t
would be paradoxical if States were thus under an obligation
to prevent, so far as within their power, commission of geno-
cide by persons over whom they have certain influence, but
were not forbidden to commit such acts through their own
organs, or persons over whom they have such firm control
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19363
that their conduct is attributable to the State concerned under
international law.” Id. at ¶ 166.
Corporations are recognized legal entities, yet, according to
the ICJ, even amorphous “groups” may be guilty of genocide.
The ICJ’s analysis is instructive, in particular because the
Supreme Court has noted that “[i]n interpreting our treaty
obligations, we . . . consider the views of the ICJ itself, ‘giv-
ing respectful consideration to the interpretation of an interna-
tional treaty rendered by an international court with
jurisdiction to interpret the treaty.’ ” Medellin v. Texas, 552
U.S. 491, 513 n.9 (2008) (quoting Breard v. Greene, 523 U.S.
371, 375 (1998) (per curiam)). The ICJ concluded that geno-
cide is a violation of international law whether committed by
an individual, an amorphous group, or a state, consistent with
all other sources of international law recognizing the univer-
sality of the prohibition of genocide. See Bosnia and Herzego-
vina, 2007 I.C.J. at ¶ 417 (attributing the genocide in
Srebrenica to “persons and groups of persons”).
[23] The ICJ made explicitly clear that a state may be
responsible for genocide committed by groups or persons
whose actions are attributable to states. Id. at ¶ 167 (Feb. 26).
Under this holding, loosely affiliated groups such as paramili-
tary units may commit genocide, particularly in light of con-
sistent case law indicating that genocide does not require state
action. See id. (attributing genocide to a non-state actor); see
also Kadic, 70 F.3d at 241-44. Given that an amorphous
group, a state, and a private individual may all violate the jus
cogens norm prohibiting genocide, corporations likewise can
commit genocide under international law because the prohibi-
tion is universal. See Genocide Convention, Preamble
(“[G]enocide is a crime under international law, contrary to
the spirit and aims of the United Nations and condemned by
the civilized world.”).
We recognize that this holding puts us at odds with the Sec-
ond Circuit majority in Kiobel. See 621 F.3d at 120. We, like
19364 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
the Second Circuit, have also taken guidance for our analysis
from a footnote in Sosa and asked “whether international law
extends the scope of liability for a violation of a given norm
to the perpetrator being sued.” Kiobel, 621 F.3d at 120 (quot-
ing Sosa, 542 U.S. 732 n.20). The Second Circuit majority
looked to whether any international institution had held a cor-
poration liable for war crimes. See 621 F.3d at 119; 131-45.
We, however, believe the proper inquiry is not whether there
is a specific precedent so holding, but whether international
law extends its prohibitions to the perpetrators in question.
After Sosa we must look to congressional intent when the
ATS was enacted. Congress then could hardly have fathomed
the array of international institutions that impose liability on
states and non-state actors alike in modern times. That an
international tribunal has not yet held a corporation criminally
liable does not mean that an international tribunal could not
or would not hold a corporation criminally liable under cus-
tomary international law. See Jonathan A. Bush, The Prehis-
tory of Corporations and Conspiracy in International
Criminal Law: What Nuremburg Really Said, 109 COLUM. L.
REV. 1094, 1149-68 (2009) (exploring strategic decision not
to prosecute corporations at Nuremburg trials, after determin-
ing that such prosecutions would have been available under a
variety of theories); cf. The Nuremberg Trial, 22 Trial of the
Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribu-
nal 501-17 (proceedings of Sept. 30, 1946) (declaring the
Nazi Leadership Corps, Die Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo)
and Der Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführer SS (SD) (which
were indicted together), and Die Schutzstaffeln der National-
sozialistischen Deutschen Arbeiterpartei (SS) to be criminal
organizations). We cannot be bound to find liability only
where international fora have imposed liability. Moreover,
both the District of Columbia and the Seventh Circuits have
very recently upheld imposition of civil liability on corpora-
tions under the ATS. Doe, at *4; Flomo, at *15. Both courts
noted that, while I.G. Farben was not criminally prosecuted
after World War II, it was dissolved and it’s assets seized.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19365
Doe, at *75-77; Flomo, at *6-7. Corporate identity is no bar
to liability under the ATS.
3. The complaint adequately alleges a claim of
genocide.
[24] We turn, then, to whether the complaint sufficiently
alleges facts supporting a claim of genocide. Plaintiffs’ com-
plaint includes allegations of killing, serious bodily harm, and
the deliberate infliction of conditions of starvation “for the
purpose of starving the bastards out.” The complaint alleges
that Rio Tinto called in military force so that it could wipe out
the native inhabitants of Bougainville engaged in an uprising.
Such acts are prohibited by the Genocide Convention. Geno-
cide Convention, art. II(a), (b), and (c) (prohibiting “(a) Kill-
ing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or
mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflict-
ing on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about
its physical destruction in whole or in part” with the intent to
destroy a protected group). The complaint therefore alleges
facts supporting an inference of acts that could constitute
genocide.
To support a claim for genocide, however, the acts listed in
Art. II of the Genocide Convention must additionally be com-
mitted with “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national,
ethnic[ ], racial, or religious group, as such.” Genocide Con-
vention, art. I. The definition of a protected group under the
Genocide Convention does not protect groups of persons gen-
erally, such as groups of people who find themselves under
attack for political opinion reasons because they are in the
wrong place at the wrong time. As one Trial Chamber Judg-
ment at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) concluded, “the Genocide Convention
does not protect all types of human groups. Its application is
confined to national, ethnic[ ], racial, or religious groups.”
Prosecutor v. Krstic, Case No. IT-98-33-T, Judgment, ¶¶ 554-
59 (Aug. 2, 2001).
19366 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
In a decision holding that Serbia violated international law
by failing to prevent genocide, the ICJ also considered the
definition of a “protected group” for purposes of the Genocide
Convention. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2007 I.C.J. at ¶¶ 193-
196. This case serves as an instructive frame of reference. The
ICJ held that to qualify as a protected group, the group “must
have particular positive characteristics—national, ethnic[ ],
racial or religious—and not the lack of them.” Id. at ¶ 193. It
held “Bosnian Muslims” constituted a protected group under
the Convention, but that the negative definition of a group
(“non-Serbs”) did not constitute a protected group. Id.
In holding that “non-Serbs” could not constitute a protected
group, the court emphasized that there must be a collective
“group identity” that is sought to be destroyed. Id. at ¶ 193.
Accordingly, in an ethnically-diverse environment, like the
one existing in the town of Srebrenica, the intent to eradicate
any person who did not belong to the preferred group did not
amount to the targeting of a specific group, which is the
essence of genocide. Id. at ¶ 191. The decision went on to
point to the drafters’ rejection of proposals to include political
groups as illustrating the drafters’ “close attention to the posi-
tive identification of groups with specific distinguishing well-
established, some said immutable, characteristics.” Id. at ¶
194.
The general allegations of the complaint in this case
describe in vivid detail the turmoil between the native inhabi-
tants of the island and Rio Tinto, which led to the closure of
the mine by the local residents in protest over the environ-
mental destruction wrought by it. The complaint concludes its
description of the events leading to the closure of the mine by
asserting that “Bougainville is the first place in the world
where an indigenous people have forced the closure of a mine
that was raping the land and an environment, and have kept
it closed.” The complaint goes on to describe the acts of vio-
lence and mayhem intentionally inflicted by Rio Tinto after
its summoning of military force.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19367
[25] The complaint here amply shows why the residents of
Bougainville constitute a protected group. The complaint
defines the residents of Bougainville by reference to their “na-
tive way of life,” ancestral attachment to the land, distinct cul-
ture, and black skin color. Moreover, the complaint alleges
that both Rio Tinto and the PNG government saw the resi-
dents of Bougainville as a distinct group. See Compl. (“Rio
considered the native people to be inferior in every respect:
socially, economically, politically, and racially.”); id. (quoting
“the former commander of the PNG forces,” referring to the
residents of Bougainville as a “ ‘distinctive people’ ”); see
also Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2007 I.C.J. at ¶ 191 (noting
that “international jurisprudence accepts a combined
subjective-objective approach to defining a protected group,”
allowing for definition both by the group itself and by outsid-
ers). The complaint thus adequately alleges that Bougainvil-
leans possessed “particular positive characteristics” and
“particular group identity,” Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2007
I.C.J. at ¶ 193, both in their own eyes and in the eyes of oth-
ers.
These allegations are more than enough to support the Bou-
gainvilleans’ status as a protected group for the purpose of
their genocide claim. This is true no matter whether they
allege the shared “social . . . and cultural” characteristics that
comprise an ethnic identity, see David L. Nersessian, The
Razor’s Edge: Defining and Protecting Human Groups Under
the Genocide Convention, 36 CORNELL INT’L L.J. 293, 300
(2003) (citing “the travaux preparatoires of the Genocide
Convention”), or shared physical characteristics sufficient to
constitute an identifiable “racial” group, or a hybrid of these
or the other protected elements. As the ICTY has explained:
“National, ethnical, racial or religious group[s] are not clearly
defined in the [Genocide] Convention or elsewhere. . . .
[S]etting out such a list was designed more to describe a sin-
gle phenomenon . . . than to refer to several distinct proto-
types of human groups.” Krstic, ¶¶ 555-56. Plaintiffs have
19368 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
adequately alleged both ethnic and racial traits sufficient to
make them a protected group.
Moreover, according to the complaint, Rio Tinto oversaw
this mass infliction of death and suffering as a part of its pat-
tern of behavior on account of its worldwide view that mem-
bers of non-white races were “expendable.” Thus, the
complaint alleges that this was Rio Tinto’s worldwide modus
operandi: “Rio’s treatment of the Bougainville people and the
environment was a part of a pattern of behavior it has perpe-
trated throughout the world where it has regarded the non
Caucasian indigenous people who live in the areas in which
it is exploiting natural resources as racially inferior and
expendable.”
Although the complaint’s use of the term “non Caucasian”
might be read to conflict with Bosnia and Herzegovina’s sug-
gestion that protected groups must be defined in positive
rather than negative terms, 2007 I.C.J. at ¶ 193, any conflict
here is illusory, given the complaint’s extensive allegations as
to the “positive characteristics,” id., of the people of Bougain-
ville. As in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the complaint’s use of
the negative identifier is “very limited,” id. at ¶ 196. The
complaint overwhelmingly describes Bougainvilleans by ref-
erence to their own characteristics, rather than by contrast to
characteristics they did not possess.
Thus, the killings of the native people of the island were
committed on account of their race at least in part, and com-
mitted with “intent to destroy in whole or in part a national,
ethnic[ ], racial or religious group, as such” within the mean-
ing of Article I of the Genocide Convention. The target was
the indigenous population of the previously pristine and iso-
lated island of Bougainville, whose members had previously
had “only the vaguest contact with the modern world,” who
were non-white, and who shared a homogenous racial iden-
tity. The allegations are sufficient to constitute genocide with
respect to the Islanders. Even though the complaint alleges
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19369
that Rio Tinto harbored virtually global racial animosity
toward non-white indigenous peoples, the existence of ani-
mosity toward similar groups throughout the world cannot
negate the legal consequences of an attempt to destroy a spe-
cific protected group in a particularized place.
[26] The complaint adequately alleges a claim of genocide.
The district court’s original dismissal of the claim must be
reversed.
B. War Crimes
The complaint alleges war crimes—in the form of murder
—against the civilian population of Bougainville during a
non-international armed conflict in violation of Common
Article III of the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the
Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Common Arti-
cle III).
1. The prohibition against war crimes is a specific,
universal, and obligatory internationally accepted
norm.
War crimes are defined primarily by the Geneva Conven-
tions, to which the United States, along with at least 180
nations, is a party and which constitute part of customary
international law. See, e.g., Convention Against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punish-
ment, S. Exec. Rep. 101-30, at 15 (1990) (“[T]he Geneva
Conventions, to which the United States and virtually all other
countries are Parties, . . . generally reflect customary interna-
tional law.”). War crimes are also among the crimes of “uni-
versal concern” in Restatement (Third), § 404.
War crimes, regrettably, continue to have an all too con-
temporary resonance. A district court in Virginia has recently
recognized the status of war crimes as sufficiently specific,
19370 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
obligatory, and universal to give rise to a cause of action
under the ATS:
Claims for violations of the international norm pro-
scribing war crimes are cognizable under the ATS.
By ratifying the Geneva Conventions, Congress has
adopted a precise, universally accepted definition of
war crimes. Moreover, through enactment of a sepa-
rate federal statute, Congress has incorporated this
precise definition into the federal criminal law. 18
U.S.C. § 2441. Thus, Congress has clearly defined
the law of nations to include a binding prohibition on
the commission of war crimes. Given this, and given
Sosa’s teachings, it follows that an allegation of a
war crime states a cause of action under the ATS.
In re Xe Servs. Alien Tort Litig., 665 F. Supp. 2d 569, 582
(E.D. Va. 2009).
[27] The definition of war crimes found in Common Arti-
cle III has been agreed to by the United States and more than
180 nations party to the Geneva Convention. Common Article
III provides, in relevant part:
In the case of armed conflict not of an international
character occurring in the territory of one of the
High Contracting Parties, each Party to the conflict
shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the follow-
ing provisions:
(1) Persons taking no active part in the hostilities . . .
shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, with-
out any adverse distinction founded on race, colour
....
To this end, the following acts are and shall remain
prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever
with respect to the above-mentioned persons:
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19371
(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder
of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture
....
Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civil-
ian Persons in Time of War, art. 3, Oct. 21, 1950, 75 U.N.T.S.
287 (Geneva IV). Like the provisions in international law
defining genocide, this definition is sufficiently specific,
obligatory, and universal to give rise to an ATS claim. Defen-
dants do not contend otherwise.
2. International law recognizes corporate liability
for war crimes.
With respect to corporate liability for war crimes, at least
two district courts have found that corporations may be liable
for war crimes under the ATS. In re Xe Servs. Alien Tort
Litig., 665 F. Supp. 2d 569; Wissam Abdullateff Sa’eed Al-
Quraishi v. Adel Nakhla, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76450, *92-
93 (D. Md. 2010) (“The Fourth Geneva Convention does not
limit its application based on the identity of the perpetrator of
the war crimes. Rather, its protections are based on who the
potential victims of war crimes are.”).
The text of Common Article III binds “each Party to the
conflict.” Geneva IV, art. III. Because parties to a conflict not
of an international character by definition must include at
least one non-state actor, entity, or group, Common Article III
cannot reasonably be interpreted to be limited to states. The
universal, obligatory, and specific nature of the jus cogens
prohibition on war crimes is analogous to the jus cogens norm
prohibiting genocide in its inclusion of states, individuals, and
groups within its prohibition. Like the Genocide Convention,
and to an even greater degree, Common Article III to the
Geneva Conventions focuses on the specific identity of the
victims rather than the identity of the perpetrators.
[28] The Eleventh Circuit has noted that corporations may
be liable under the ATS for war crimes claims. Sinaltrainal
19372 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
v. Coca-Cola Co., 578 F.3d 1252, 1263 (11th Cir. 2009). We
agree and conclude that international law extends the scope of
liability for war crimes to all actors, including corporations.
3. International law recognizes aiding and abetting
liability for war crimes.
[29] Criminal aiding and abetting liability for war crimes
has been clearly established by the war crimes tribunals. See,
e.g., Prosecutor v. Kvocka, Case No. IT-98-30/1-T, Judgment
(Nov. 2, 2001) (holding an individual responsible for aiding
and abetting war crimes pursuant to the joint criminal enter-
prise doctrine); Prosecutor v. Musema, Case No. ICTR-96-
13-T, Judgment (Jan. 27, 2000). See also ICTY Statute art.
7(1) (providing for aiding and abetting liability for all crimes
in its jurisdiction, including crimes against humanity and war
crimes); ICTR Statute art. 6(1) (same); Rome Statute art.
25(3)(c) (same).
Under international law, however, the required mens rea
for aiding and abetting war crimes is subject to dispute. On
the one hand, as Amici International Law Scholars describe,
the Nuremberg-era trials, the ICTY, and the ICTR have
required the mens rea of knowledge in aiding and abetting
cases. Brief of Amici Curiae International Law Scholars in
Support of Plaintiffs-Appellants at 4-16 (Feb. 18, 2010) (cit-
ing, among other cases, United States v. Von Weizsaecker
(The Ministries Case), 14 Trials of War Criminals Before the
Nuernberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No.
10 (1949), Prosecutor v. Furundzija, Case No. IT-95-17/1/T,
Judgment, ¶ 236 (Dec. 10, 1998), Prosecutor v. Rutaganda,
Case No. ICTR-96-3-T, Judgment, ¶ 389-91, 416, 439 (Dec.
6, 1990)). On the other hand, the Rome Statute, art. 25(3)(c)
states that aiding and abetting must be “for the purpose” of
furthering the crime. See Doe, at *46. In accord with the
Rome Statute, Judge Katzmann’s concurrence in Khulumani
concluded that aiding and abetting under international law
requires the mens rea of purpose and the actus reus of “sub-
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19373
stantial assistance.” Khulumani, 504 F.3d at 277 (Katzmann,
J. concurring). See also Presbyterian Church of Sudan v. Tal-
isman Energy, Inc., 582 F.3d 244, 259 (2d Cir. 2009) (stating
that the mens rea for aiding and abetting liability under the
ATS is purpose and the actus reus is “practical assistance to
the principal which has a substantial effect”).
[30] We need not resolve this dispute as to mens rea in
order to conclude that customary international law gives rise
to a cause of action for aiding and abetting a war crime under
the ATS. It is absolutely clear, as a matter of international
law, that at least purposive action in furtherance of a war
crime constitutes aiding and abetting that crime. Allegations
of such purposive action are therefore cognizable under the
ATS. See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 732. We reserve decision as to
whether, as Judge Pregerson suggests, allegations of knowl-
edge but not purpose in aiding or abetting the commission of
war crimes would also be cognizable under Sosa.
4. The complaint adequately alleges a war crimes
claim.
The complaint alleges murder of civilians during the civil
war between the people of Bougainville and the PNG, con-
duct which is clearly prohibited under Common Article
III(1)(a) of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The complaint
alleges that Rio Tinto induced the military action and
intended such action, “to forcibly displace and destroy plain-
tiffs and members of the Class.” According to Plaintiffs, Rio
Tinto “understood and intended” that their actions would
“likely result in military action by the PNG and intended such
action to take place even if it meant the death and/or injury
of residents.” Plaintiffs also allege that Rio Tinto “understood
that it had a great deal of the control over the situation” and
“knew” that this was the only way it could reopen its profit-
able mine. Plaintiffs allege that Rio Tinto solicited the mili-
tary action for its own private ends and directed the military
response even “while reports of war crimes surfaced.”
19374 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
[31] Judge McKeown suggests that Plaintiffs do not allege
Rio Tinto’s specific intent to harm the residents of Bougain-
ville. “Missing,” she says, “is the link between Rio Tinto and
the PNG’s alleged war crimes.” McKeown op. at 19419. But
Judge McKeown ignores Plaintiffs’ extensive allegations that
Rio purposely induced the war crimes in order to protect its
economic interests in PNG. Plaintiffs allege that Rio issued
the PNG government “an ultimatum”: displace the local resi-
dents interfering with its mining operations, no matter the
means, or Rio would abandon all investments on PNG. When
the PNG government employed military means to fulfill Rio’s
demands, Plaintiffs allege, Rio provided the PNG military
helicopters and vehicles to carry out the operations, even after
reports of war crimes became public. When initial efforts
were insufficient to displace the locals, PNG imposed a block-
ade on Bougainville; Plaintiffs allege that at a meeting “be-
tween PNG officials and two top Rio executives, one top Rio
manager encouraged continuation of the blockade to ‘starve
the bastards out . . . .’ ” Moreover, Rio allegedly assured the
PNG government that the continued maintenance of the
blockade was enough to prevent Rio from withdrawing from
PNG, while Rio simultaneously attempted to repress reporting
of the humanitarian crisis unfolding on the island. These alle-
gations support much more than “an inference of mere knowl-
edge on Rio Tinto’s part,” McKeown op. at 19419; it supports
an inference that Rio Tinto actively encouraged the killing of
Bougainvilleans. It is “sufficient factual matter” for plaintiffs
“to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face,’ ” even
if plaintiffs must allege that Rio Tinto specifically intended to
harm the residents of Bougainville. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S.
Ct. 1937, 1949 (2009) (quoting Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twom-
bly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)).
In any event, it is far from clear that such specific intent is
necessary to satisfy a mens rea of purpose under international
law. As our concurring colleagues note, Pregerson Op. at
19387 n.1, the “purpose” language of the Rome Statute’s
Article 25(c)(3) “has yet to be construed by the ICC and may
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19375
be interpreted to be consistent with customary international
law, which does not contain a specific intent requirement.”
Brief of Amici Curiae International Law Scholars in Support
of Plaintiffs-Appellants at 20-21 (Feb. 18, 2010). Under cus-
tomary international law, “[i]n the absence of a specific intent
requirement, a perpetrator must act intentionally, but must
only be aware of the likely outcome,” in order to be held lia-
ble. Id. at 21 (second emphasis added). Article 25(3)(c) thus
can be read to state only the “de minimus and obvious point
. . . that an aider or abettor purposely acts in a manner that has
the consequence of facilitating the commission of a crime,”
without “fram[ing] the intent of the aider or abettor with
respect to that consequence.” David Scheffer & Caroline
Kaeb, The Five Levels of CSR Compliance: The Resiliency of
Corporate Liability Under the Alien Tort Statute and the Case
for a Counterattack Strategy in Compliance Theory, 29
BERKELEY J. INT’L L. 334, 355 (2011); see also Doug Cassel,
Corporate Aiding and Abetting of Human Rights Violations:
Confusion in the Courts, 6 NW. J. INT’L HUM. RTS. 304, 312-
13 (2008) (“‘[P]urpose’ in the ICC Statute need not mean the
exclusive or even primary purpose. A secondary purpose,
including one inferred from knowledge of the likely conse-
quences, should suffice.”). Because plaintiffs allege that Rio
Tinto specifically intended to harm them in aiding and abet-
ting the commission of war crimes, we need not decide
whether the broader interpretation of “purpose” would also
sustain liability (just as we need not decide whether allega-
tions of knowing but not purposive action would be cogniza-
ble).
[32] We conclude that the allegations are sufficient to state
a war crimes claim. The complaint alleges purposeful conduct
undertaken by Rio Tinto with the intent to assist in the com-
mission of violence, injury, and death, to the degree necessary
to keep its mines open.
C. Crimes Against Humanity
The complaint alleges crimes against humanity arising
from a food and medical blockade. Under customary interna-
19376 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
tional law, primarily defined through the international crimi-
nal tribunals at Nuremberg and elsewhere, crimes against
humanity require (1) a widespread or systematic attack
directed against a civilian population; and (2) a prohibited act.
See, e.g., Rome Statute, art. 7, ICTY Statute, art. 5; ICTR
Statute, art. 3.
[33] Assuming, without deciding, that Plaintiffs allege the
blockade was a widespread and systematic attack, then
whether Plaintiffs’ blockade allegation would establish a vio-
lation of the law of nations giving rise to an ATS claim under
Sosa depends upon whether the blockade constitutes a prohib-
ited act. The articles defining crimes against humanity in each
of the relevant international statutes include a list of specific
acts constituting crimes against humanity, as well as a more
general “other inhumane acts” provision. Rome Statute, art.
7(1); ICTY Statute, art. 5; ICTR Statute art. 3.
All statutes list “extermination” as a prohibited act amount-
ing to a crime against humanity. Rome Statute, art. 7(1)(b);
ICTY Statute, art. 5(b); ICTR Statute art. 3(b). Their defini-
tions of what constitutes extermination, however, differ. Only
the Rome Statute refers to the denial of access to the necessi-
ties of life. Its definition of “extermination” states that the
term “includes the intentional infliction of conditions of life,
inter alia the deprivation of access to food and medicine, cal-
culated to bring about the destruction of part of a population
. . . .” Rome Statute, art. 7(2)(b). Notably, the Rome Statute
does not mention a blockade. Moreover, the deprivation of
access to necessities is not necessarily synonymous with a
blockade, because such deprivation can be effected without
the imposition of a blockade.
The ICTR and the ICTY do not refer to deprivation of food
and medicine. The ICTR “requires proof that the accused par-
ticipated in a widespread or systematic killing or in subjecting
a widespread number of people or systematically subjecting
a number of people to conditions of living that would inevita-
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19377
bly lead to death . . . .” Gacumbitsi v. Prosecutor, Case No.
ICTR-2001-64-A, Judgment, ¶ 86 (July 7, 2006). The ICTY
requires the “intent to kill on a massive scale.” Prosecutor v.
Brdjanin, Case No. IT-99-36-A, ¶ 477 (Int’l Crim. Trib. for
the Former Yugoslavia Apr. 3, 2007).
Since none of the statutes explicitly include a blockade in
their definition of extermination, Plaintiffs’ claim for crimes
against humanity can come within the statutes only if the
blockade constitutes “other inhumane acts.” A food and medi-
cal blockade may well be an “other inhumane act[ ]” consti-
tuting a crime against humanity. The International Law
Commission has recognized that the statutes could not list
every possible crime against humanity, stating that “it was
impossible to establish an exhaustive list of the inhumane acts
which might constitute crimes against humanity.” Prosecutor
v. Kupreskic, et al., IT-95-16-T, Judgment, ¶ 565 n.828 (Jan.
14, 2000) (quoting Report of the International Law Commis-
sion on the Work of its Forty-Eighth Session, 6 May-26 July
1996, UNGAOR 51st Sess. Supp. No. 10 (A/51/10) (Crimes
Against the Peace and Security of Mankind), ¶ 17)).
[34] To meet the Sosa test, however, the blockade must be
a violation of a recognized specific norm. The statutes do not
create such a norm. There is no source of recognized interna-
tional law that yet identifies a food and medical blockade as
an “other inhumane act[ ]” or otherwise qualifies it as a crime
against humanity. In the absence of any such source, a food
and medical blockade does not violate a specific internation-
ally recognized norm within the meaning of Sosa.
[35] The district court’s original dismissal of Plaintiffs’
claim alleging crimes against humanity arising from the medi-
cal and food blockade must be affirmed. We note that Plain-
tiffs’ claim for genocide is also pled as a crime against
humanity, and as we have explained, the genocide claim does
satisfy the Sosa requirements.
19378 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
D. Racial Discrimination
The complaint alleges that Rio Tinto engaged in racial dis-
crimination “under color of law,” although it does not explain
its theory. There is a great deal of support for the proposition
that systematic racial discrimination by a state violates a jus
cogens norm and therefore is not barred from consideration
by the act of state doctrine. See Siderman de Blake, 965 F.2d
at 718 (holding a violation of a jus cogens norm is not a sov-
ereign act); see also id. at 717 (noting systematic racial dis-
crimination violates a jus cogens norm when it is committed
by a state) (citing Restatement (Third), § 702 cmt. n).
[36] Assuming that Plaintiffs have adequately alleged
action under color of law, the controlling question then
becomes whether the international norm prohibiting system-
atic racial discrimination is sufficiently specific and obliga-
tory to give rise to a cause of action under the ATS. We
conclude it is not. Notably, the United States’ ratification of
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination contained a declaration that the treaty was not
self-executing. U.S. Reservations, Declarations, and Under-
standings, International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination, § III, 140 Cong. Rec. S7634-
02 (June 24, 1994). This declaration indicates that the treaty
alone does not establish a norm sufficiently specific, univer-
sal, and obligatory to give rise to a cause of action under the
ATS, because the treaty provisions are not enforceable in our
courts. See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 735 (noting the United States’
understanding that the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights was not self-executing meant that the treaty
“did not itself create obligations enforceable in federal
courts”).
Additionally, the treaty itself provides a definition of racial
discrimination1 but does not provide any such definition of
1
The Convention defines racial discrimination as:
any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race,
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19379
systematic racial discrimination, nor even include the word
“systematic.” See International Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 660 U.N.T.S. 195
(entered into force Jan. 4, 1969) (“Racial Discrimination Con-
vention”). Notably, the international norm prohibiting system-
atic racial discrimination has been given no further content
through international tribunals, subsequent treaties, or similar
sources of customary international law. The Racial Discrimi-
nation Convention is in this way quite different from the
Genocide Convention, whose definition of genocide has been
repeatedly reinforced in international and domestic law. See
supra, Section IV(A)(1).
[37] As the Supreme Court noted in Sosa, “federal courts
should not recognize private claims under federal common
law for violations of any international law norm with less def-
inite content and acceptance among civilized nations than the
historical paradigms familiar when § 1350 was enacted.” 542
U.S. at 732. See also Marcos II, 25 F.3d at 1475 (“Actionable
violations of international law must be of a norm that is spe-
cific, universal, and obligatory.”). In holding on remand that
the racial discrimination claim need not be exhausted, the dis-
trict court understood, as do we, that there is a universally rec-
ognized prohibition against systematic racial discrimination.
The district court, however, on remand did not address the
additional requirement under Sosa that the prohibition be suf-
ficiently specific and obligatory. The district court’s original
dismissal of the claim must be affirmed on the ground that the
norm does not meet the Sosa requirements.
colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the pur-
pose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoy-
ment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and
fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural
or any other field of public life.
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Dis-
crimination, 660 U.N.T.S. 195 (entered into force Jan. 4, 1969), art. 1(a).
19380 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
It is important to recognize that the claim of racial discrimi-
nation as set forth in Count IV of the complaint is for a viola-
tion of the Racial Discrimination Convention. It is not a claim
of apartheid as defined in the relevant international statutes.
See International Convention on the Suppression and Punish-
ment of the Crime of Apartheid, 13 I.L.M. 50, 1015 U.N.T.S.
243 (1976); see also Rome Statute of the International Crimi-
nal Court (“Rome Statute”), July 17, 1998, 2187 U.N.T.S. 90
(defining the crime of apartheid as “inhumane acts . . . com-
mitted in the context of an institutionalized regime of system-
atic oppression and domination by one racial group over any
other racial group or groups and committed with the intention
of maintaining that regime”). A claim premised on apartheid
may be cognizable under the ATS. See e.g. Khulumani v. Bar-
clay Nat’l Bank Ltd., 504 F.3d 254, 260 (2d Cir. 2007) (vacat-
ing the district court’s dismissal of the plaintiffs’ ATS claims
for aiding and abetting apartheid); see also Restatement
(Third) of Foreign Relations § 702, cmt. i (“Racial discrimi-
nation is a violation of customary law when it is practiced
systematically as a matter of state policy, e.g., apartheid in the
Republic of South Africa.”). We assume, without deciding,
that a claim akin to apartheid would be cognizable under the
ATS, but the complaint in this case does not allege such a
claim.
V. CONCLUSION
The district court’s order on prudential exhaustion is
AFFIRMED. The district court’s dismissal of the claims for
racial discrimination and crimes against humanity is
AFFIRMED. The dismissal of the claims for genocide and
war crimes is REVERSED. The case is REMANDED to the
district court for further proceedings on the claims of geno-
cide and war crimes.
AFFIRMED in part; REVERSED and REMANDED in
part. Each party to bear its own costs.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19381
REINHARDT, Circuit Judge, concurring:
I concur fully in the results of the majority opinion but dis-
agree with a limited part of its reasoning, contained in Parts
II.C and IV.B.3, regarding aiding and abetting.1 I would look
to domestic rather than international law in analyzing this
issue. I also join Part II of Judge McKeown’s opinion, which
clarifies that domestic law predominantly governs the issue of
corporate liability.
The applicability of domestic law to resolve questions
under the ATS is hardly a novel matter. International law
“takes no position on whether its norms may be enforced by
civil actions for compensatory damages,” leaving that ques-
tion “to be separately decided by each nation.” Kiobel v.
Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 621 F.3d 111, 153 (2d Cir. 2010)
(Leval, J., concurring in the judgment); see also Doe v. Exxon
Mobil Corp., No. 09-7125, 2011 WL 2652384, at *31 (D.C.
Cir. July 8, 2011); Kadic v. Karadzic, 70 F.3d 232, 246 (2d
Cir. 1995) (“The law of nations . . . leaves to each nation the
task of defining the remedies that are available for interna-
tional law violations.”); Tel-Oren v. Libyan Arab Republic,
726 F.2d 774, 778 (D.C. Cir. 1984) (Edwards, J., concurring)
(“[T]he law of nations never has been perceived to create or
define the civil actions to be made available by each member
of the community of nations.”). Domestic law therefore gov-
erns how international norms are enforced under the ATS.
I. Aiding and Abetting
I continue to adhere to the view that in determining the
scope of third-party tort liability under the ATS, we are
required to “look to traditional civil tort principles embodied
in federal common law, rather than to evolving standards of
international law.” Doe v. Unocal Corp, 395 F.3d 932, 965
1
I also disagree with some of the reasoning in Part IV.C, concerning
crimes against humanity.
19382 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
(9th Cir. 2002) (Reinhardt, J., concurring), vacated, 395 F.3d
978. Both the majority and Judge Pregerson err in looking to
the decisions of ad hoc criminal tribunals (such as the ICTY
and ICTR) and to the Rome Statute of the International Crimi-
nal Court, rather than to established doctrines of our own tort
law.
I agree, instead, with the reasoning of Judge Hall’s concur-
ring opinion in Khulumani v. Barclay Nat. Bank Ltd., 504
F.3d 254 (2d Cir. 2007). As Judge Hall writes, “Sosa at best
lends Delphian guidance on the question of whether the fed-
eral common law or customary international law represents
the proper source from which to derive a standard of aiding
and abetting liability under the [ATS].” Id. at 286 (Hall, J.,
concurring). The appropriate resolution is to rely on our own
law.
Like Judge Hall, I would apply the federal common law
aiding and abetting standard of Halberstam v. Welch, 705
F.2d 472 (D.C. Cir. 1983), which relied on Restatement (Sec-
ond) of Torts § 876(b); see also Sarei v. Rio Tinto, PLC, 487
F.3d 1193, 1202 (9th Cir. 2007), vacated, 499 F.3d 923 (cit-
ing Restatement §§ 876-77 as among “well-settled theories of
vicarious liability under federal common law”).2 This standard
provides that for a defendant to incur liability, “(1) the party
whom the defendant aids must perform a wrongful act that
2
As the Unocal majority noted, the Restatement standard is “similar” to
the international-law aiding and abetting standard applied in that case. 395
F.3d at 951, vacated, 395 F.3d 978; see also Exxon Mobil, 2011 WL
2652384, at *19. My disagreement with the aiding and abetting theory in
Unocal arose from the majority’s decision to derive that theory from inter-
national law. While my Unocal opinion argued for the application of
agency, joint venture, or reckless disregard as theories of third-party liabil-
ity that are well-established in federal common law, I have no objection
to any other theory of third-party liability derived from federal common
law—only those that arise from “evolving standards of international law,
such as” the pronouncements of an “ad hoc international criminal tribu-
nal.” 395 F.3d at 965 (Reinhardt, J., concurring).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19383
causes an injury; (2) the defendant must be generally aware
of his role as part of an overall illegal or tortious activity at
the time that he provides the assistance; [and] (3) the defen-
dant must knowingly and substantially assist the principal vio-
lation.” Halberstam, 705 F.2d at 477.
Plaintiffs have adequately alleged Rio Tinto’s liability
under this standard. For this reason, I agree with the majori-
ty’s decision to reverse the district court’s dismissal of the
war crimes claim.
II. Corporate Liability
For similar reasons, I would look to domestic law to deter-
mine whether a corporation may be held liable under the ATS
for its violation of the law of nations. I join Part II of Judge
McKeown’s opinion, which ably explains why corporations
cannot be immune from liability for genocide or war crimes.
I therefore concur in the majority’s holding that corporations
may be held liable under the ATS. Domestic law abides no
distinction between corporate and individual tort liability, see,
e.g., The Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore R.R. Co. v.
Quigley, 62 U.S. 202, 210 (1858), and this rule is just as clear
in the ATS context as in any other.
III. Conclusion
The ATS is a jurisdictional statute, enabling the federal
courts to hear claims for a handful of torts with “definite con-
tent and acceptance among civilized nations.” Sosa v.
Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 732 (2004). The role of inter-
national law is to specify these torts. The role of domestic law
is to prescribe the means of their enforcement. I therefore dis-
agree with the majority to the extent that it relies on interna-
tional law in deciding the question of aiding and abetting, and
I would place a more explicit emphasis on domestic law in the
resolution of the corporate liability issue. I concur fully, how-
ever, in the result.
19384 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
PREGERSON, Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissent-
ing in part, with whom RAWLINSON, Circuit Judge, joins:
For the reasons stated by the majority, I agree that we must
reverse the district court’s dismissal of Plaintiffs’ claims for
genocide and war crimes. I write separately, however, to
express my disagreement with three points considered by that
opinion. First, I believe that knowledge rather than purpose is
the appropriate mens rea standard for aiding and abetting lia-
bility for war crimes claims under the Alien Tort Statute, and
there is no reason for us to pass on holding so. Second, I
believe that the alleged food and medical blockade qualifies
as a crime against humanity and a war crime under customary
international law, and therefore, we have jurisdiction to hear
those claims under the Alien Tort Statute. Third, I believe we
have jurisdiction under the Alien Tort Statute to decide Plain-
tiffs’ systematic racial discrimination claims because there is
a jus cogens norm against systematic racial discrimination.
Moreover, because I believe that Plaintiffs have alleged facts
sufficient to support their claims for crimes against humanity,
war crimes, and systematic racial discrimination, I would
reverse the district court’s dismissal of those claims.
I. Aiding and Abetting Liability
I agree with the majority that there is universal recognition
of aiding and abetting liability for war crimes under interna-
tional law. Maj. op. at 19372-73. I disagree, however, with the
majority’s decision to acknowledge only a mens rea standard
of “purposive action in furtherance of a war crime,” reserving
for another day a decision as to whether merely knowledge is
sufficient. Maj. op. at 19373. I believe we can hold with con-
fidence that knowledge that one is assisting unlawful activity
is the applicable mens rea standard for aiding and abetting lia-
bility for war crimes because, as discussed below, such a stan-
dard reflects sufficiently universal customary international
law.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19385
As the majority acknowledges, the Nuremberg-era trials,
the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(“ICTY”), and the International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda (“ICTR”) have all required the mens rea of knowl-
edge in aiding and abetting cases. In fact, “[t]he vast majority
of international legal materials clearly prescribe knowledge as
the mens rea requirement for aiding and abetting.” In re S.
African Apartheid Litig., 617 F. Supp. 2d 228, 259 (S.D.N.Y.
2009) (citing Prosecutor v. Furundzija, Case No. IT-95-17/1,
Trial Chamber Judgment, ¶ 245 (Int’l Crim. Trib. for the For-
mer Yugoslavia Dec. 10, 1998)); Prosecutor v. Vasiljevic,
Case No. IT-98-32-A, Appeals Judgment ¶ 102 (Int’l Crim.
Trib. for the Former Yugoslavia Feb. 25, 2004) (“In the case
of aiding and abetting, the requisite mental element is knowl-
edge that the acts performed by the aider and abettor assist the
commission of the specific crime of the principal.”); Prosecu-
tor v. Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-T, Trial Chamber Judg-
ment, ¶ 545 (Sept. 2, 1998) (“[A]n accused is liable as an
accomplice to genocide if he knowingly aided or abetted or
instigated one or more persons in the commission of geno-
cide, while knowing that such a person or persons were com-
mitting genocide, even though the accused himself did not
have the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.”); Prose-
cutor v. Tadic, Case No. IT-94-1-T, Trial Chamber Judgment,
¶¶ 674, 692 (Int’l Crim. Trib. for the Former Yugoslavia May
7, 1997) (requiring knowing participation or “a conscious
decision to participate” via the provision of substantial assis-
tance); United States v. Flick, 6 Trials of War Criminals
Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals 1217 (1952) (“One
who knowingly by his influence and money contributes to the
support [of a violation of the law of nations] must, under set-
tled legal principles, be deemed to be, if not a principal, cer-
tainly an accessory to such crimes.”); United States v.
Ohlendorf, 4 Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg
Military Tribunals 569-70 (1949) (convicting for war crimes
and crimes against humanity an individual who had provided
a list of communists to his superiors because he was, at mini-
19386 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
mum, “aware that the people listed would be executed when
found”); Trial of Bruno Tesch (The Zyklon B Case), 1 Law
Reports of Trials of War Criminals 101 (1947) (finding acces-
sory liability for murder because “the accused knew that the
gas was to be used for the purpose of killing human beings”);
Draft Code of Crimes Against the Peace and Security of Man-
kind, [1996] 2 Y.B. Int’l L. Comm’n., ch. 2, arts. 2(3)(d), 17,
18, 20, U.N. Doc. A/CN.4/SER.A/1996/Add.1 (Part 2); Doug
Cassel, Corporate Aiding and Abetting of Human Rights Vio-
lations: Confusion in the Courts, 6 Nw. U. J. Int’l Hum. Rts.
304, 314 (2008) (“[T]he majority of the post-World War II
case law, the case law of the ICTY and the ICTR, the [Inter-
national Law Commission] Draft Code, and group crimes
under [Article 25(3)(d)] of the [Rome Statute of the Interna-
tional Criminal Court], requires that those who aid and abet
merely have knowledge that they are assisting criminal activi-
ty.”).
Despite the foregoing multitude of international sources
uniformly concluding that knowledge is the applicable mens
rea, the majority principally relies on the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court (the “Rome Statute”) as the basis
for a purpose mens rea standard. Maj. op. at 19372-73. But
not every provision of the Rome Statute was intended to
reflect customary international law. See David Scheffer and
Caroline Kaeb, The Five Levels of CSR Compliance: The
Resiliency of Corporate Liability under the Alien Tort Statute
and the Case for a Counterattack Strategy in Compliance
Theory, 29 Berkeley J. Int’l L. 334, 348 (2011); see also Doe
v. Exxon Mobil Corp., No. 09-7125, 2011 WL 2652384, at
*18 (D.C. Cir. July 8, 2011) (citing Prosecutor v. Germain
Katanga & Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, Case No. ICC-
01/14/01/07, Decision on the Confirmation of Charges,
¶¶ 507-08 (Sept. 30, 2008)). Moreover, the Rome Statute was
never intended to supersede, constrain or limit existing cus-
tomary international law, including the universal knowledge
mens rea standard—any deviations from customary interna-
tional law should be viewed as specific only to cases heard
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19387
under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court
(“ICC”). See Brief of Amici Curiae International Law Schol-
ars in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellants at 16-18 (Feb. 18,
2010); In re S. African Apartheid Litig., 617 F. Supp. 2d at
261 n.176 (“A derogation in the Rome Statute from custom-
ary international law ‘is considered a lex specialis in relation
to the general principle’ rather than a modification of custom-
ary international law.” (quoting Paola Anna Pillitu, European
‘Sanctions’ Against Zimbabwe’s Head of State and Foreign
Minister: A Blow to Personal Immunities of Senior State Offi-
cials?, 1 J. Int’l Crim. Just. 453, 457 n.18 (2003))); Mohamed
M. El Zeidy, Critical Thoughts on Article 59(2) of the ICC
Statute, 4 J. Int’l Crim. Just. 448, 454 (2006) (noting that
detailed arrest procedures in the Rome Statute are not drawn
from customary international law and are therefore specific to
the ICC); see also Doe, 2011 WL 2652384, at *18 (noting
that the Rome Statute itself acknowledges that it was not
meant to affect or amend existing customary international law
where the Rome Statute specifically provides that it is not to
“ ‘be interpreted as limiting or prejudicing in any way existing
or developing rules of international law’ ” (quoting Rome
Statute, art. 10)).
After apparently assuming that the entirety of the Rome
Statute necessarily reflects customary international law, the
majority then erroneously interprets Article 25(3)(c) as estab-
lishing a purpose mens rea standard for all allegations of aid-
ing and abetting liability under the Rome Statute.1 Maj. op. at
19372-73. In so holding, the majority overlooks other Rome
1
Despite the majority’s implication that Article 25(3)(c)’s “purpose”
language describes a specific intent standard—and, thus, that the required
mens rea is subject to dispute—Article 25(3)(c) may simply be an alterna-
tive statement of the knowledge standard. See Scheffer & Kaeb, The Five
Levels of CSR Compliance, supra, at 334, 355 (“The “purpose” language
stated the de minimus and obvious point, namely, that an aider or abettor
purposely acts in a manner that has the consequence of facilitating the
commission of a crime . . . .”); Brief of Amici Curiae International Law
Scholars in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellants at 20-21 (Feb. 18, 2010)
(“[The purpose] language has yet to be construed by the ICC and may be
interpreted to be consistent with customary international law, which does
not contain a specific intent requirement. In the absence of a specific
intent requirement, a perpetrator must act intentionally, but must only be
aware of the likely outcome.”).
19388 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
Statute provisions delineating a knowledge mens rea standard
for aiding and abetting liability. Article 30 establishes that the
default mens rea standard for crimes under the Rome Statute
is knowledge that a circumstance exists or a consequence will
occur in the ordinary course of events. Consistent therewith,
Article 25(3)(d) requires only a mens rea of knowledge when
an actor aids or abets a crime committed by a group with a
common purpose. Consequently, even if the Rome Statute
were an appropriate source for determining the mens rea stan-
dard, Article 25(3)(d)’s knowledge standard would apply,
where, as here, Plaintiffs allege international crimes carried
out by a group with a common purpose.2 See Rome Statute
art. 25(3)(d); Brief of Amici Curiae International Law Schol-
ars in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellants at 19 (Feb. 18, 2010);
accord Doe, 2011 WL 2652384, at *18 (asserting that Article
25(3)(d) and its knowledge mens rea would apply where “[the
defendant-corporation] is alleged to have aided and abetted
[the nation’s] military forces, which in turn are alleged to
have committed violations of the law of nations against [the
plaintiffs]”).
Under the Rome Statute—and under customary
international law—there is no difference between
amorality and immorality. One who substantially
assists a violation of the law of nations is equally lia-
ble if he or she desires the crime to occur or if he or
she knows it will occur and simply does not care.
2
The majority cites Judge Katzmann’s concurrence in Khulumani v.
Barclay National Bank Limited, 504 F.3d 254, 268-77 (2d Cir. 2007), in
support of the proposition that the mens rea standard may be purpose.
Maj. op. at 19372. Like the majority, however, Judge Katzmann’s analysis
incorrectly assumes that the entirety of the Rome Statute reflects custom-
ary international law. Judge Katzmann also fails to address the signifi-
cance of the knowledge mens rea standards in Articles 30 and 25(3)(d).
Moreover, Judge Katzmann’s concurrence fails to consider multiple
Nuremberg tribunal convictions for aiding and abetting based on a knowl-
edge mens rea. See Doe, 2011 WL 2652384, at *19.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19389
In re S. African Apartheid Litig., 617 F. Supp. 2d at 262.
For the foregoing reasons, I conclude that knowledge is the
applicable mens rea standard for aiding and abetting liability.
II. The Food and Medical Blockade
Under customary international law, a complaint alleging
crimes against humanity requires an allegation of a wide-
spread or systematic attack directed against a civilian popula-
tion and a prohibited act. See, e.g., Rome Statute, art. 7, ICTY
Statute, art. 5; ICTR Statute, art. 3. Prohibited acts include
those listed explicitly in the statues defining crimes against
humanity, as well as acts that would fit in the more general
category of “other inhumane acts.” Id. The majority concludes
that Plaintiffs’ complaint does not state a claim for crimes
against humanity arising from the food and medical blockade
because a food and medical blockade is not explicitly listed
as a prohibited act in the relevant statutes, and the majority
was unable to locate other sources of international law identi-
fying a food and medical blockade as an “other inhumane
act.” Maj. op. at 19376-77 (citing Rome Statute, art. 7(k);
ICTY Statute, art. 5(I); ICTR Statute art. 3(I)). Thus, the
majority concludes that we do not have jurisdiction to hear
Plaintiffs’ asserted crimes against humanity claims because
there is no specific, universal, and obligatory international
norm against a food and medical blockade. See Sosa v.
Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692 (2004) (holding that to be the
basis for an Alien Tort Statute claim, international norms
must be specific, universal, and obligatory). I disagree. As
pled in the complaint, Plaintiffs have adequately alleged,
under the specific facts of this case, that the food and medical
blockade constituted murder and torture, both of which are
listed as specific crimes against humanity in each of the rele-
vant international statutes. See Rome Statute, art. 7(a), (f);
ICTY Statute, art. 5(a), (f); ICTR Statute art. 3(a), (f).
19390 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges that Rio Tinto supported and
encouraged Papua New Guinea’s blockade that “prevented
medicine, clothing and other essential items from reaching the
people of Bougainville, [and as a result], [h]ospitals were
forced to close, women died needlessly in childbirth and
young children died from easily preventable diseases.”
Compl. ¶ 12. Furthermore, the complaint alleges that the
blockade caused the death of more than 10,000 Bougainvil-
leans, including more than 2,000 children in the first two
years of the siege.3 Compl. ¶¶ 12, 196.
Under international law “[i]t can be said that the accused is
guilty of murder if he or she[,] engaging in conduct which is
unlawful, intended to kill another person or to cause this per-
son grievous bodily harm, and [ ] caused the death of that per-
son.” Prosecutor v. Kupreskic, et al., IT-95-16-T, Trial
Chamber Judgment, ¶ 560 (Int’l Crim. Trib. for the Former
Yugoslavia Jan. 14, 2000). Under this standard, Plaintiffs
have adequately alleged murder, a prohibited act under vari-
ous international statues. See Rome Statute, art. 7(a); ICTY
3
The people of Bougainville were essential to the Allied victory in the
Bougainville Campaign during World War II. See John M. Rentz, Histori-
cal Branch, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Bougainville and the North-
ern Solomons 131 (1946); Jon T. Hoffman, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve,
From Makin to Bougainville: Marine Raiders in the Pacific War 37
(1995). The victory, in turn, was key to eventual Allied air and naval
supremacy in the Solomon Islands. Rentz, at 29-30.
During the campaign, the Bougainvilleans risked their own lives time
and time again to aid the Allied cause. Bougainvilleans helped the Austra-
lian coastwatchers monitor Japanese military movements across the island.
Harry A. Gailey, Bougainville, 1943-1945: The Forgotten Campaign 35
(1991). Because the Bougainvilleans were familiar with the island terrain,
they were able to stealthily navigate the jungles and swamps, serving as
guides to the Allied troops and gathering intelligence on Japanese military
camps. Rentz, at 11, 17-18, 74; Gailey, at 58; Henry I. Shaw, Jr. & Doug-
las T. Kane, Historical Branch, G-3 Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine
Corps, Isolation of Rabaul 174 (1963). Many brave Bougainvilleans and
Allied troops lost their lives in the fight to secure the island of Bougain-
ville. See Rentz, at 140.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19391
Statute, art. 5(a); ICTR Statute art. 3(a). Moreover, the com-
plaint alleges that the food and medical blockade “foreseeably
resulted in the killing of natives, caused serious bodily harm,
[and] was deliberately calculated to destroy plaintiffs.”
Compl. ¶ 213. Such a blockade that denies essential goods
and services, for the purpose of causing death or grievous
bodily harm to thousands of people, qualifies as a widespread
and systematic attack against a civilian population. See, e.g.,
Rome Statute, art. 7, ICTY Statute, art. 5; ICTR Statute, art.
3; see also Rome Statute, art. 7(2)(a) (“‘Attack directed
against any civilian population’ means a course of conduct
involving the multiple commission of [specific prohibited acts
including murder and torture] against any civilian population,
pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational pol-
icy to commit such attack.”). Thus, the food and medical
blockade pled as a crime against humanity satisfies Sosa’s
jurisdictional requirement, see Sosa, 542 U.S. at 732, and
Plaintiffs have alleged sufficient facts to state a claim.
Plaintiffs further allege that “the medical blockade violates
the Torture Convention, as pain and death were intentionally
inflicted for the purpose of punishing people for having
closed the mine, and intimidating and coercing them into
moving away from the mine and dropping their opposition.”
Compl. ¶¶ 212, 214. One Rio Tinto official is alleged to have
said, during a discussion regarding the devastating effects of
the blockade, that the blockade should be continued to “starve
the bastards out [so the people] will come around.” Compl.
¶ 192.
The right to be free from torture “is fundamental and uni-
versal, a right deserving of the highest status under interna-
tional law, a norm of jus cogens.” Siderman de Blake v.
Republic of Argentina, 965 F.2d 699, 717 (9th Cir. 1992) (sur-
veying and collecting various cases, statutes and scholarly
articles). Torture is defined under international law as:
any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether
physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a per-
19392 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
son for such purposes as obtaining from him or a
third person information or a confession, punishing
him for an act he or a third person has committed or
is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or
coercing him or a third person, or for any reason
based on discrimination of any kind . . . .
The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Dec. 10, 1984, 23
I.L.M. 1027, 1465 U.N.T.S. 85 (“Torture Convention”). This
well-defined jus cogens norm satisfies Sosa’s specific, univer-
sal and obligatory requirement. See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 732; see
also In re Estate of Ferdinand Marcos, Human Rights Litig.
(Marcos II), 25 F.3d 1467, 1475 (9th Cir. 1994) (holding that
jurisdiction under the Alien Tort Statute was proper because
there is a jus cogens norm against torture). Therefore, Plain-
tiffs have adequately stated an Alien Tort Statute claim for
torture as a crime against humanity under international law
because, consistent with the requirements of the Torture Con-
vention, Plaintiffs allege that Rio Tinto intentionally caused
severe injury and death to coerce and punish the people of
Bougainville.
Even if the food and medical blockade did not constitute a
crime against humanity, such an intentional deprivation of
essential supplies would still constitute a war crime. See
Compl. ¶¶ 49, 56. Food and medical blockades are outlawed
by the Fourth Geneva Convention, which, as the majority
acknowledges, provides well-recognized definitions of war
crimes and is “sufficiently specific, obligatory, and universal
to give rise to a cause of action under the [Alien Tort Stat-
ute].” See Maj. op. at 19369 (“War crimes are defined primar-
ily by the Geneva Conventions, to which the United States,
along with at least 180 nations, is a party and which constitute
part of customary international law.” (citing the Torture Con-
vention, S. Exec. Rep. 101-30, at 15 (1990))); id. (“[T]he
Geneva Conventions, to which the United States and virtually
all other countries are Parties . . . generally reflect customary
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19393
international law.” (quoting the Torture Convention, S. Exec.
Rep. 101-30, at 15 (1990))).
Specifically, Article 23 of the Fourth Geneva Convention
requires that during conflicts, nations “shall allow the free
passage of all consignments of medical and hospital stores,”
and “shall likewise permit the free passage of all consign-
ments of essential foodstuffs, clothing and tonics intended for
children under fifteen, expectant mothers and maternity
cases.” Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection
of Civilian Persons in Time of War, art. 23, Oct. 21, 1950, 75
U.N.T.S. 287. Additionally, Article 17 provides that nations
involved in conflict “shall endeavor to conclude local agree-
ments for the removal from besieged or encircled areas, of
wounded, sick, infirm, and aged persons, children and mater-
nity cases, and for the passage of . . . medical personnel and
medical equipment on their way to such areas.” Id. at art. 17.
Because, as previously discussed, Plaintiffs allege that the
food and medical blockade did not permit the free passage of
essential foodstuffs and medical supplies, Plaintiffs ade-
quately state a claim for war crimes in violation of Articles 17
and 23 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.4
III. Systematic Racial Discrimination
“[A]ny doctrine of superiority based on racial dif-
ferentiation is scientifically false, morally condem-
nable, socially unjust and dangerous, and [ ] there is
4
My view that the Plaintiffs have adequately alleged that the food and
medical blockade was a crime against humanity and a war crime is
grounded on the operative facts of this case. Here, we are dealing with
allegations that the blockade’s purpose was to stop the free flow of essen-
tial food and medicine to a civilian population in an effort to—according
to statements allegedly made by a Rio Tinto official—“starve the bastards
out.” This case does not present a situation in which a blockade is insti-
tuted to stop the entry of weapons of war or materials, funds, or other
items that could otherwise aid efforts of the blockaded country or territory
to make war.
19394 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
no justification for racial discrimination, in theory or
in practice, anywhere . . . .”
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination Preamble, Dec. 21, 1965, 5 I.L.M. 352,
660 U.N.T.S. 195 (“Racial Discrimination Convention”).
I believe that there is a jus cogens norm prohibiting system-
atic racial discrimination, and that because the norm is jus
cogens, our federal courts necessarily have jurisdiction under
the Alien Tort Statute. I do not agree with the majority’s con-
clusion that the international prohibition against systematic
racial discrimination does not satisfy Sosa’s requirement that
an international norm must be specific, universal, and obliga-
tory to be cognizable under the Alien Tort Statute. See Sosa,
542 U.S. at 732.
First, many courts agree that there is a jus cogens norm pro-
hibiting systematic racial discrimination. See Siderman de
Blake v. Republic of Argentina, 965 F.2d 699, 717 (9th Cir.
1992) (noting that the Restatement “identif[ies] jus cogens
norms prohibiting genocide, slavery, murder or causing disap-
pearance of individuals, prolonged arbitrary detention, and
systematic racial discrimination”) (citing Restatement (Third)
of Foreign Relations Law of the United States, § 702 cmt. n
(1987)); Comm. of U.S. Citizens in Nicaragua v. Reagan, 859
F.2d 929, 941 (D.C. Cir.1988) (same); Beanal v. Freeport-
McMoRan, Inc., 969 F. Supp. 362, 371 (E.D. La.1997) (rec-
ognizing that systematic racial discrimination is “actionable
as violative of the law of nations”), aff’d, 197 F.3d 161 (5th
Cir. 1999).
Second, because there is a jus cogens norm against system-
atic racial discrimination, I believe there is necessarily federal
court jurisdiction under the Alien Tort Statute. As the major-
ity notes, a jus cogens norm is defined as a norm that is
accepted and recognized by the international community of
states as a whole, “from which no derogation is permitted.”
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19395
Maj. op. at 19358 (quoting Siderman de Blake, 965 F.2d at
714 (quoting Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties art.
53, May 23, 1969, 8 I.L.M. 679, 1155 U.N.T.S. 331)). In con-
trast to customary international law, which is “derive[d]
solely from the consent of states, the fundamental and univer-
sal norms constituting jus cogens transcend such consent.”
Siderman de Blake, 965 F.2d at 715. Further, international
laws and agreements that contravene jus cogens norms are
considered void. Id. at 715-16 (“[J]us cogens [norms] ‘prevail
over and invalidate international agreements and other rules
of international law in conflict with them.’ ” (quoting Restate-
ment (Third) § 102 cmt. k and citing Vienna Convention on
the Law of Treaties art. 53, May 23, 1969, 8 I.L.M. 679, 1155
U.N.T.S. 331)). Jus cogens norms “enjoy the highest status
within international law.” Id. at 715 (quoting Comm. of U.S.
Citizens Living in Nicaragua, 859 F.2d at 940). In sum, jus
cogens norms represent fundamental components of the
ordered international community, and jus cogens’ status at the
top of the hierarchy of international law is beyond question.
Thus, “a jus cogens violation is, by definition, a violation of
[a] specific, universal, and obligatory international norm[ ].”
Doe I v. Unocal Corp., 395 F.3d 932, 945 n.15 (9th Cir. 2002)
(internal quotation marks omitted); see also Siderman de
Blake, 965 F.2d at 715-16; Alvarez-Machain v. United States,
266 F.3d 1045, 1050 (9th Cir. 2001) (“[A] jus cogens viola-
tion satisfies the specific, universal, and obligatory standard
. . . .” (internal quotation marks omitted)); Joel Slawotsky,
The New Global Financial Landscape: Why Egregious Inter-
national Corporate Fraud Should Be Cognizable under the
Alien Tort Claims Act, 17 Duke J. Comp. & Int’l L. 131, 150
(2006). Consequently, once a norm is determined to be jus
cogens, it necessarily satisfies Sosa’s jurisdictional test. See
Marcos II, 25 F.3d at 1475 (holding that jurisdiction under the
Alien Tort Statute was proper because there is a jus cogens
norm against torture); In re Estate of Ferdinand E. Marcos
Human Rights Litig. (Marcos I), 978 F.2d 493, 500 (9th Cir.
1992) (“Under international law, any state that engages in
19396 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
official torture violates jus cogens. We therefore conclude that
the district court did not err in founding jurisdiction on a vio-
lation of the jus cogens norm prohibiting official torture.”
(internal citations and quotations omitted)).
The majority argues that Plaintiffs’ systematic racial dis-
crimination claim is based solely on the Racial Discrimination
Convention. The majority then concludes that the systematic
racial discrimination claim must be dismissed, because, in the
majority’s view, the Racial Discrimination Convention is not
specific and obligatory, as required under Sosa.5 Maj. op. at
19379-80. I read Plaintiffs’ complaint more broadly, however.
In addition to noting the jus cogens status of the prohibition
against systematic racial discrimination—which, again, I
believe is sufficient for federal court jurisdiction under the
Alien Tort Statute—the Plaintiffs’ complaint also cites the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Uni-
versal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Compl.
¶¶ 60-61, all of which are international agreements prohibit-
5
The majority concludes that because the Racial Discrimination Con-
vention is not self-executing, it cannot provide support for an Alien Tort
Statute claim. Maj. op. at 19378-79. I disagree. “Whether a treaty that
embodies [a norm of customary international law] is self-executing is rele-
vant to, but is not determinative of, [the] question” whether the norm per-
mits Alien Tort Statute jurisdiction. Khulumani, 504 F.3d at 284
(Katzmann, J., concurring). Thus, international agreements that are not
self-executing or that have not been executed by federal legislation, such
as the Racial Discrimination Convention, can properly be consulted as evi-
dence of the current state of customary international law. See Abdullahi v.
Pfizer, Inc., 562 F.3d 163, 176-77 (2d Cir. 2009). Moreover, plaintiffs
“need not . . . cite a portion of a specific treaty or another United States
statute in order to establish a cause of action [under the Alien Tort Statute]
. . . .” Papa v. U.S., 281 F.3d 1004, 1013 (9th Cir. 2002). Rather, in deter-
mining the boundaries of the Alien Tort Statute, plaintiffs (and courts)
should follow the Supreme Court’s guidance in Sosa and look to the entire
corpus of international law, including treaties, executive and legislative
acts, judicial decisions, international custom, and the works of jurists and
commentators. See 542 U.S. at 734 (quoting The Paquete Habana, 175
U.S. 677, 700 (1900)).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19397
ing racial discrimination. See International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, Dec. 16, 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171; Uni-
versal Declaration of Human Rights, G.A. Res. 217III (A)
U.N. Doc. A/RES/217 III (Dec. 10, 1848); International Cov-
enant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Dec. 16,
1966, 993 U.N.T.S. 3.
Having determined that Plaintiffs have cleared their juris-
dictional hurdle, I further conclude that Plaintiffs’ factual alle-
gations adequately state a claim for systematic racial
discrimination. Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges that all of the
human rights abuses were the “direct consequence of Rio
Tinto’s deliberate policy of systematic racial discrimination.”
Compl. ¶ 238. For example, Plaintiffs allege that, because Rio
Tinto “regarded the native people as inferior,” Rio Tinto com-
mitted the following unlawful acts: Rio Tinto encouraged and
supported the food and medical blockade that resulted in the
deaths of thousands of people; Rio Tinto housed mine work-
ers in “slave-like conditions”; Rio Tinto established a “differ-
ential wage system[ ]” whereby indigenous Bougainvillean
workers were paid significantly less than white workers per-
forming similar work; Rio Tinto relocated villagers to make
way for mining operations and housed them in “intolerable”
and “apartheid-like conditions”; and Rio Tinto treated the
environment “with wanton disregard,” polluting at levels that
“would not have occurred in an area populated by Cauca-
sians.” See Compl. ¶¶ 168-71, 173, 175, 237-39, 244.
Additionally, because systematic racial discrimination vio-
lates a jus cogens norm only when it is committed as a matter
of state policy, Plaintiffs must adequately allege either direct
state action or action by a private party under color of law.
See Restatement (Third), § 702 cmts. i & n. Plaintiffs have
met their burden. Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges that the numer-
ous violations were carried out under color of law because the
Papua New Guinea government had a significant stake in the
mining operation. Compl. ¶ 111. Therefore, Plaintiffs allege,
all of “Rio [Tinto’s] actions were done with the concurrence
19398 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
and authority of the [Papua New Guinea] government.” Id.
For example, Plaintiffs allege that the government “allowed
Rio [Tinto] to exercise the power of eminent domain and to
dispossess the native people of Bougainville whenever and
wherever Rio [Tinto] decided to do so.” Id. The Plaintiffs’
factual allegations, taken together, adequately allege that Rio
Tinto violated the jus cogens norm against systematic racial
discrimination under color of law. Thus, because the federal
courts have jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ systematic racial dis-
crimination claim, and Plaintiffs have made sufficient factual
allegations, I would allow their claim to proceed.
Conclusion
The human rights violations alleged by Plaintiffs are mat-
ters of universal concern. Rio Tinto’s alleged actions resulted
in the destruction of the natural environment and the tragic
deaths of many thousands of indigenous people on the island
of Bougainville. For the reasons discussed above, I conclude
that knowledge rather than purpose is the appropriate mens
rea standard for aiding and abetting liability for war crimes
claims under the Alien Tort Statute. Furthermore, I conclude
that Plaintiffs’ claims for (1) crimes against humanity and war
crimes based on the food and medical blockade, and (2) sys-
tematic racial discrimination, may be heard in the United
States federal courts pursuant to the Alien Tort Statute. There-
fore, the district court’s dismissal of these claims must be
reversed.
McKEOWN, Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting
in part, joined as to Part II by Judges REINHARDT and
BERZON:
The Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”), albeit short on words, is
a perplexing statute. Given the ink spilled in many judicial
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19399
opinions, concurrences, and dissents, as well as scholarly arti-
cles, this brevity has not netted clarity.
Nonetheless, despite the many novel issues in this case, a
few defining principles emerge.
Under the ATS, the federal courts have jurisdiction over
claims for torts in violation of the law of nations. The law of
nations is equally clear that genocide and war crimes are jus
cogens violations of international law wherever they occur
and whoever commits those crimes, whether an individual,
group, corporation, or government. Importantly, one defining
feature of the universal, specific, and obligatory norms pro-
hibiting genocide and war crimes is the focus of those prohi-
bitions on the identities of the victims of those crimes, as
opposed to the identities of the perpetrators.
I concur in the majority’s holding that the ATS may give
rise to tort actions based on extraterritorial conduct by corpo-
rations. I am flattered that the majority has adopted some of
my language regarding these issues. However, I write sepa-
rately because it is important to emphasize that the federal
common law and the history of tort liability in domestic law
provide essential support for both the extraterritorial reach of
claims under “the law of nations” and corporate liability
under those causes of action. Further, in my view, Sarei has
not stated a claim for genocide or war crimes. I would remand
to the district court to consider whether amendment is proper
and therefore respectfully dissent from Parts IV(A)(3) and
IV(B)(4) of the majority opinion.
I. CLAIMS UNDER “THE LAW OF NATIONS” ENCOMPASS
EXTRATERRITORIAL CONDUCT.
I agree with the result the majority reaches—that claims
based on occurrences abroad may give rise to an ATS suit—
but write separately to highlight the historical predicate for
this conclusion. As the D.C. Circuit recently explained,
19400 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
because the ATS is jurisdictional only, the underlying cause
of action, not the statute, is given extraterritorial effect in suits
in which the tort alleged occurred abroad. See Doe v. Exxon
Mobil Corp., ___ F.3d ___, No. 09-7125, 2011 WL 2652384,
at *8 (D.C. Cir. July 8, 2011) (“The question here is not
whether the ATS applies extraterritorially but instead whether
the common law causes of action that federal courts recognize
in ATS lawsuits may extend to harm to aliens occurring in
foreign countries.”). The D.C. Circuit aptly noted that the
ATS is a purely jurisdictional statute and is thus analogous to
28 U.S.C. § 1331—the statute creating federal question juris-
diction. Id. at *8. When suits are brought in federal court
under federal question jurisdiction, we inquire not whether
§ 1331 applies extraterritorially but instead whether the cause
of action applies extraterritorially. See Morrison v. Nat’l Aus-
tralia Bank, Ltd., 130 S. Ct. 2869, 2881-86 (2010) (examining
whether the cause of action under § 10(b) of the Securities
and Exchange Act and SEC Rule 10b-5 extends extraterritori-
ally); see also Doe, 2011 WL 2652384, at *8 (noting that
when an individual brings suit under the Torture Victim Pro-
tection Act of 1999 (TVPA), Pub. L. No. 102-256, 106 Stat.
73, the question is whether the TVPA’s cause of action
extends extraterritorially and not whether the jurisdictional
grant, § 1331, extends extraterritorially). I view the majority’s
reference to extraterritorial application of the ATS as short-
hand for whether the cause of action in an ATS suit encom-
passes conduct overseas. Although the ATS is jurisdictional,
it cabins the source of the cause of action by reference to “the
law of nations,” and for that reason I adopt the majority’s
shorthand and refer to the extraterritorial application of the
statute for the remainder of this opinion.
The majority appropriately concludes that the absence of
specific language in the statute establishing extraterritorial
effect is not a barrier to extraterritorial application of the ATS
both because the statute has other indicia of extraterritorial
applicability and because the statute itself does not provide
the cause of action. See Maj. op. at 19334-35. The Supreme
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19401
Court underscored this principle in its most recent pronounce-
ment on extraterritoriality. In Morrison, the Court held that a
“clear indication of an extraterritorial application” may be
found even in the absence of specific statutory language indi-
cating Congress intended the statute to apply extraterritorially.
130 S. Ct. at 2883. The historical context of the ATS, accord-
ing to the majority, provides abundant indication that the
jurisdictional grant was intended to include claims alleging
violations of the law of nations occurring outside of the
United States. Maj. op. at 19334-36. The history of the ATS,
and particularly its ties to piracy, are “strong indications that
Congress intended the Act to apply outside the United States.”
Maj. op. at 19338-39.
At the time of its enactment, the ATS was intended to
encompass conduct both within and beyond the United States,
including both crimes against foreign ambassadors in the
United States and piracy. See Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542
U.S. 692, 715-17 (2004) (“It was this narrow set of violations
of the law of nations [violation of safe conducts, infringement
of the rights of ambassadors, and piracy], admitting of a judi-
cial remedy and at the same time threatening serious conse-
quences in international affairs, that was probably on minds
of the men who drafted the ATS with its reference to tort.”).
An opinion by Attorney General Bradford in 1795—a mere
six years after adoption of the ATS—confirms this interpreta-
tion. Giving the opinion its most logical reading, Bradford
apparently concluded that the ATS may give rise to suits
based on conduct occurring abroad—not only on the high
seas, but even within the borders of other countries.1 See
Breach of Neutrality, 1 Op. Att’y Gen. 57, 58-59 (1795).
1
Like the majority in Doe v. Exxon, I read the Attorney General’s opin-
ion to conclude that the criminal jurisdiction of the federal courts was lim-
ited in the case of piracy to acts committed on the high seas but that the
civil jurisdiction was not so limited, and that the courts could provide a
forum for a tort suit arising from incidents within the territorial bounds of
Sierra Leone. 2011 WL 2652384, at *8. The Supreme Court’s reference
19402 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
Because the ATS targeted violations of the law of nations
at home and abroad and did so by providing the law of nations
—an international body of law—as the source of the cause of
action, both the international focus and the nature of the harm
(violations of the law of nations generally and piracy specifi-
cally) signal congressional understanding that the ATS’s
jurisdictional grant extends to torts committed outside of the
United States.
Following Morrison, the Eleventh Circuit reiterated that
extraterritoriality may derive from the international nature of
the harm addressed by the statute, among other factors. See
United States v. Belfast, 611 F.3d 783, 811 (11th Cir. 2010)
(“intent[ ] [of extraterritorial applicability] of course may
appear on the face of the statute, but it may also be ‘inferred
from . . . the nature of the harm the statute is designed to pre-
vent,’ from the self-evident ‘international focus of the statute,’
and from the fact that ‘limit[ing] [the statute’s] prohibitions to
acts occurring within the United States would undermine the
statute’s effectiveness.’ ” (quoting United States v. Plummer,
221 F.3d 1298, 1310 (11th Cir. 2000)). This same principle
applies to the ATS.
Further, “[c]ommon law courts of general jurisdiction regu-
larly [have] adjudicate[d] transitory tort claims between indi-
viduals over whom they exercise personal jurisdiction,
wherever the tort occurred.” Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, 630 F.2d
876, 885 (2d Cir. 1980) (emphasis added). In holding that the
ATS applies extraterritorially, the Second Circuit recited the
history of American and British courts adjudicating extraterri-
torial tort claims. See id. (citing Lord Mansfield in Mostyn v.
in Sosa supports this interpretation. See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 721 (summariz-
ing the inquiry submitted to Bradford as “whether criminal prosecution
was available against Americans who had taken part in the French plunder
of a British slave colony in Sierra Leone,” and concluding Bradford
advised that “a federal court was open for the prosecution of a tort action
growing out of the episode.” (emphasis added)).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19403
Fabrigas, 1 Cowp. 161 (1774); McKenna v. Fisk, 42 U.S. (1
How.) 241, 248 (1843); Dennick v. R.R. Co., 103 U.S. 11, 26
(1880); Slater v. Mexican Nat’l R.R. Co., 194 U.S. 120
(1904)). Similarly, the D.C. Circuit concluded that
“[e]xtraterritorial application of the ATS would reflect the
contemporaneous understanding that, by the time of the Judi-
ciary Act of 1789, a transitory tort action arising out of activi-
ties beyond the forum state’s territorial limits could be tried
in the forum state.” Doe, 2011 WL 2652384, at *8. Indeed,
“[i]t is not extraordinary for a court to adjudicate a tort claim
arising outside of its territorial jurisdiction.” Filartiga, 630
F.3d at 885.
Taken together, the language of the statute, the historical
context, and the nature of the harm encompassed by “the law
of nations,” supply the necessary “clear indication” that the
ATS’s jurisdictional grant over torts in violation of the law of
nations includes within its ambit at least some conduct occur-
ring outside of the United States. See Morrison, 130 S. Ct. at
2883.
II. THE ATS MAY GIVE RISE TO CORPORATE LIABILITY.
I join the majority’s invocation of corporate liability under
the ATS: “[t]he ATS contains no . . . language and has no . . .
legislative history to suggest that corporate liability was
excluded and that only liability of natural persons was intend-
ed.” Maj. op. at 19340. At the turn of the Twentieth Century,
no less than the Attorney General acknowledged that corpora-
tions could be liable under the ATS. See 26 Op. Atty. Gen.
250, 252-53 (1907) (opining that the ATS provided a mecha-
nism through which to hold a U.S. corporation liable for vio-
lating provisions of the Convention Between the United States
of America and the United States of Mexico Touching the
International Boundary Line Where it Follows the Bed of the
Rio Colorado (Nov. 2, 1884)). Thus, the view that ATS liabil-
ity extends to a corporation that commits a tort in violation of
the law of nations is one that has held sway for, at the very
19404 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
least, nearly half of the statute’s existence, and nothing before
that time suggests a contrary position.
Jurists and scholars debate whether we look to international
or domestic law to determine whether a corporation may be
sued under the ATS. See Doe, 2011 WL 2652384, at *21
(“corporate liability differs fundamentally from the conduct-
governing norms at issue in Sosa, and consequently custom-
ary international law does not provide the rule of decision”);
id. at *55-56 (Kavanaugh, J., dissenting in part) (looking to
international law and concluding corporate liability may not
lie under the ATS); Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 621
F.3d 111, 127-31 (2d Cir. 2010) (concluding international law
does not provide for corporate liability); id. at 175 (Leval, J.,
concurring) (noting international law leaves the provision of
civil remedies to the discretion of individual states); Mara
Theophila, “Moral Monsters” Under the Bed: Holding Cor-
porations Accountable for Violations of the Alien Tort Statute
after Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 79 FORDHAM L.
REV. 2859 (2011) (summarizing the debate as to the law
determining corporate liability under the ATS). The source of
this split is Sosa’s holding that the ATS is jurisdictional only
but that “federal courts should not recognize private claims
under federal common law for violations of any international
law norm with less definite content and acceptance among
civilized nations than the historical paradigms familiar when
§ 1350 was enacted.” 542 U.S. at 732 (emphasis added).
An international norm is the sine qua non of an ATS suit,
yet the tort cause of action is defined by customary interna-
tional law as it has been incorporated into the federal common
law. See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 724 (“The [ATS] . . . is best read
as having been enacted on the understanding that the common
law would provide a cause of action for the modest number
of international law violations with a potential for personal
liability . . . .”). Because the common law, with its incorpora-
tion of international law, provides the cause of action, I would
hold that courts should first look to the common law to see if
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19405
the corporate defendant is within the ambit of the cause of
action. Concluding that federal common law provides a long
and consistent history of corporate liability in tort, I would
then look to international law to insure the corporate defen-
dant is included within the law of nations’ norm allegedly vio-
lated in a given suit. As to the amorphous line between a
substantive offense under international law and other aspects
of a cause of action under domestic law, I am cognizant that
“Sosa at best lends Delphian guidance.” Khulumani v. Bar-
clay Nat’l Bank Ltd., 504 F.3d 254, 286 (2d Cir. 2007) (Hall,
J. concurring); see also Doe, 2011 WL 2652384, at *22
(same). Without the international norm, there can be no ATS
cause of action, so the threshold challenge is defining the
norm. Does the norm include the identification of the defen-
dant or is that a function of the cause of action? I submit in
the case of corporate liability that this distinction makes no
difference. International law admits to corporate liability, as
does domestic law.2
In an effort to follow the limited guidance provided in Sosa
and make sense of the ATS’s jurisdictional grant, I would
begin the domestic law analysis by returning to the basics of
statutory interpretation. See Ransom v. FIA Card Services,
131 S.Ct. 716, 723-24 (2011) (instructing courts to begin with
the plain language of the statute). The language of the statute,
as the Supreme Court has told us, “by its terms does not dis-
tinguish among classes of defendants[.]” Argentine Republic
v. Amerada Hess Shipping Corp., 488 U.S. 428, 438 (1989).
The statute provides that the plaintiff must be an alien but it
says nothing that would preclude corporate defendants. See 28
U.S.C. § 1350. Absent a subsequent or different statute or
international law limiting the availability of a tort action
2
The same challenge is inherent in determining standards for aiding and
abetting liability. Like corporate liability, aiding and abetting liability is
supported in both international and domestic law. I discuss aiding and
abetting liability in detail in Section III(B) in connection with Sarei’s war
crimes claim.
19406 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
against a certain defendant, the ATS allows an action in tort
to lie against any defendant. See Amerada Hess, 488 U.S. at
438-39 (holding the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of
1976 barred ATS suits against foreign governments); Bowoto
v. Chevron, 621 F.3d 1116, 1128 (9th Cir. 2010) (holding the
TVPA limits liability to natural persons).
Although we know very little about the First Congress’s
intent in enacting the ATS, see Sosa, 542 U.S. at 718-19, the
mainstream understanding of tort liability in the time frame
surrounding the statute’s enactment likely informed congres-
sional action. See Lane v. Pena, 518 U.S. 187, 201 (1996)
(“[C]ongressional intent with respect to a statutory provision
must be interpreted in the light of the contemporary legal con-
text.”). The ATS is, after all, a grant of jurisdiction for actions
in tort. 28 U.S.C. § 1350. In 1858, the Supreme Court rein-
forced the longstanding rule that “actions might be maintained
against corporations for torts”:
[F]or acts done by the agents of a corporation, either
in contractu or in delicto, in the course of its busi-
ness, and of their employment, the corporation is
responsible, as an individual is responsible under
similar circumstances. At a very early period, it was
decided in Great Britain, as well as in the United
States, that actions might be maintained against cor-
porations for torts; and instances may be found, in
the judicial annals of both countries, suits for torts
arising from the acts of their agents, of nearly every
variety.
The Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore R.R. Co. v.
Quigley, 62 U.S. 202, 210 (1858) (holding a corporation capa-
ble of “malice” and liable in tort for libel); see also Conrad
v. Pacific Ins. Co., 31 U.S. 262, 281-82 (1832) (holding a
company liable for trespass); Lake Shore & M. S. Ry. Co. v.
Prentice, 147 U.S. 101, 109 (1893) (“A corporation is doubt-
less liable, like an individual, to make compensation for any
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19407
tort committed by an agent in the course of his employment
. . . .”).
The long and consistent tradition of corporate liability in
tort under the federal common law leaves no doubt that corpo-
rate liability is available under the ATS. See Cook Cnty. of
Illinois v. Chandler, 538 U.S. 119, 125 (2003) (recounting the
history of corporate personhood and the understanding at the
turn of the Nineteenth Century that corporations could sue
and be sued); see also Doe, 2011 WL 2652384, at *28 (stating
that “[c]orporate immunity . . . would be inconsistent with the
ATS because by 1789 corporate liability in tort was an
accepted principle of tort law in the United States” and
recounting the early history of corporate liability in tort under
the common law). That a tort claim may be available against
a corporation is, in fact, an unremarkable result. See Chan-
dler, 538 U.S. at 125-27 (discussing the history of corporate
personhood and liability and its continued vitality in the
absence of statutory restrictions). Instead, it would be remark-
able if corporations were exempt from liability under the
ATS.
Over the two hundred plus years of the statute’s existence,
Congress has not amended the statute to preclude corporate
liability or otherwise abrogate federal courts’ holdings in ATS
cases. Rather, “Congress . . . has not only expressed no dis-
agreement with [federal courts’ holdings allowing ATS suits
for violations of customary international law] . . . , but has
responded . . . by enacting legislation [the TVPA] supple-
menting the judicial determination in some detail.” Sosa, 542
U.S. at 73. Just as the Court found it significant that Congress
did not amend or supplant the ATS when it enacted the
TVPA, I find it significant that Congress did not amend the
ATS to preclude corporate liability when it adopted the
TVPA’s clear restriction to natural person defendants. See 28
U.S.C. § 1350, note § 2(a) (“An individual who, under actual
or apparent authority, or color of law, of any foreign nation
. . . subjects an individual to torture, shall, in a civil action,
19408 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
be liable for damages . . . .”) (emphasis added); see also
Bowoto, 621 F. 3d at 1128. In sum, there is no reason to
believe that Congress intended anything but for the ATS to
grant jurisdiction over claims against corporations for viola-
tions of the law of nations.
The availability of a tort action against a corporation under
domestic law does not end the story. Because a claim under
the ATS may lie only if the norm allegedly violated includes
the named defendant within its ambit, we also must look to
international law. See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 724. Here, my inquiry
is the same as the majority’s—that is, I would ask whether the
international norm at issue excludes private corporate actors
from its scope. See Maj. op. at 19339-40. The starting point
of this inquiry is whether private or non-state actors fall
within the international norms. Although the extent to which
non-state actors are bound to abide by international law has
varied over the centuries, in modern times many norms of
international law include private actors within their ambit. See
Tel-Oren v. Libyan Arab Republic, 726 F.2d 774, 794 (D.C.
Cir. 1984) (Edwards, J., concurring) (discussing shifts in
scholarly and judicial understandings of private parties’
responsibilities under international law from the Eighteenth
Century through the late Twentieth Century).
Next it is important to recognize that the handful of interna-
tional law violations that may give rise to an ATS claim are
often restricted by the identity of the perpetrator, the identity
of the victim, or the locus of events. Such restrictions are part
and parcel of the norm and as a result could limit the avail-
ability of a cause of action under the ATS. For example, the
international norm most frequently associated with the ATS—
the prohibition on piracy—is limited in modern times by both
the perpetrator’s identity (a member of a private ship or pri-
vate aircraft) and the locus of events (the high seas). See 18
U.S.C. § 1651; see also United Nations Convention on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), art. 101, opened for signature
Dec. 10, 1982, 1833 U.N.T.S. 397 (entered into force Nov.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19409
16, 1994).3 In contrast, the prohibition on torture contains no
restriction as to the locus of events but generally requires state
action or state acquiescence—the scope of the prohibition is
restricted to certain perpetrators. See 18 U.S.C. § 2340(1)
(“‘[T]orture’ means an act committed by a person acting
under the color of law . . . .”).4
The two international prohibitions at issue in this case, as
the majority details, are restricted in scope primarily by the
identities of the victims. See Maj. op. at 19359-60 19371-72.
Genocide is defined almost entirely based upon the identity of
the victim—with no restrictions as to the identity of the perpe-
trator. See Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia, 2007 I.C.J. 91,
¶ 167 (Feb. 26) (emphasizing the universal prohibition of
genocide and its status as a binding norm upon both state and
non-state actors). War crimes in violation of Common Article
III are defined with reference to both the perpetrator (a party
to the conflict, which necessarily includes both state and non-
state actors in a non-international armed conflict) and the vic-
tim (a civilian). See Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to
the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, art. 3, Oct.
21, 1950, 75 U.N.T.S. 287.
The particularity of each norm highlights the importance of
conducting a norm-specific inquiry as to each alleged viola-
tion of international law to determine whether there is juris-
3
The United States has signed but not ratified UNCLOS. However, the
convention’s core provisions are generally accepted as customary interna-
tional law. United States v. Alaska, 503 U.S. 569, 588, n. 10 (1992)
(“[T]he United States has not ratified [the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea], but has recognized that its baseline provisions reflect
customary international law[.]” (internal quotation marks and citation
omitted)).
4
The complaint alleges that Rio Tinto acted in concert with a state actor,
rendering its conduct “under color of state law.” Because genocide and
war crimes do not require state action, it is unnecessary to consider
whether a corporation may be liable for acting under “color of state law”
in violating norms that do require state action.
19410 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
diction under the ATS. See Maj. op. at 19340-41. The only
remaining claims here are for genocide and war crimes—
norms of international law that do not limit their scope by the
corporate or private identity of the perpetrator. Consequently,
there is no justification for exempting Rio Tinto from the
reach of the ATS in this case.
In determining whether a norm of customary international
law excludes corporate actors, I reject the notion that we must
find an example of corporate liability in an international
forum to satisfy Sosa. See Flomo, ___ F.3d ___, 2011 WL
2675924 (7th Cir. July 11, 2011), at *5 (noting that “one of
the principal criticisms” of corporate criminal liability relies
on the availability of civil remedies against a corporation in
the event of “abhorrent” corporate conduct); cf. Kiobel, 621
F.3d at 132-37 (relying heavily on the lack of international
criminal liability to support the holding that corporate liability
may not lie under the ATS). Instead, the sole inquiry under
international law is whether the norm allegedly violated
extends to a private corporate actor. The Second Circuit’s
analysis of liability of non-state actors under international law
in Kadic v. Karadzic, 70 F.3d 232 (2d Cir. 1995), is illustra-
tive here. In Kadic, the defendant argued that “acts committed
by non-state actors do not violate the law of nations.” Id. at
239 (internal quotation marks omitted). The Second Circuit
rejected that argument, looking to piracy as “[a]n early exam-
ple of the application of the law of nations to the acts of pri-
vate individuals.” Id. The court then proceeded to assess
whether the international norms at issue in Kadic extended to
private actors, concluding that the prohibitions of genocide
and war crimes apply to state and non-state actors alike. Id.
at 241-44. This approach is consistent with Sosa. See 542 U.S.
at 733, n.20; see also Doe, 2011 WL 2652384, at *29 (noting
some international treaties distinguish between natural and
juridical persons whereas others do not).
Kadic was decided in 1995, before any individual had been
held responsible for genocide in an international forum. See
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19411
Prosecutor v. Akayesu, Trial Chamber Judgment, ICTR-96-4-
T (Sept. 2, 1998) (first case holding an individual liable for
genocide at an international tribunal). Nonetheless, the court
in Kadic had no trouble concluding that private actors may
commit genocide under international law and, as a result, be
held liable under the ATS for their transgressions. 70 F.3d at
241-42. The Second Circuit looked to the sources of the inter-
national prohibition on genocide, as does the majority, to
identify whether non-state actors fall within the ambit of the
prohibition. See id. The proper inquiry is not whether a corpo-
ration has been held liable under international law, it is
whether a corporation is bound to abide by the international
norm at issue. See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 733 n.20 (noting courts
must consider “whether international law extends the scope of
liability for a violation of a given norm to the perpetrator
being sued”); see also Flomo, 2011 WL 2675924, at *3
(“There is always a first time for litigation to enforce a norm;
there has to be.”).
Although the ATS grants jurisdiction over actions in tort,
criminal cases are instructive to the extent they articulate cus-
tomary international law—but criminal cases are not a limita-
tion on tort liability. See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 734-38 (concluding
the international norm prohibiting arbitrary detention is insuf-
ficiently universal, specific, and obligatory to give rise to an
ATS suit without reference to international criminal trials or
the absence thereof); see also id., 542 U.S. at 762-63 (Breyer,
J. concurring) (noting “consensus as to universal criminal
jurisdiction itself suggests that universal tort jurisdiction
would be no more threatening” and that “universal criminal
jurisdiction necessarily contemplates a significant degree of
civil tort recovery as well”). In sum, the jurisprudence of
international criminal tribunals is informative as to the content
of the norm but the absence of relevant criminal jurisprudence
is not particularly instructive in identifying proper defendants
in a civil suit. See Flomo, 2011 WL 2675924, at *5 (discuss-
ing the shortcomings of relying on international criminal law
in determining rules of civil liability).
19412 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
Of note, the majority explains that international law has not
consistently precluded corporate criminal liability—at
Nuremburg the prosecution apparently believed corporations
could be criminally liable for violations of the law of nations
but chose instead to focus on natural person defendants as a
matter of strategy. See Maj. op. at 19364; see also Jonathan
A. Bush, The Prehistory of Corporations and Conspiracy in
International Criminal Law: What Nuremburg Really Said,
109 COLUM. L. REV. 1094, 1104-1130 (2009).5 Notably, one
judgment at Nuremburg was explicit that corporations can
violate international law, concluding that “[w]here private
individuals, including juristic persons, proceed to exploit the
military occupancy by acquiring private property against the
will and consent of the former owner, such action, not being
expressly justified . . . , is in violation of international law
. . . .” Kiobel, 621 F.3d at 180 (Leval, J., concurring) (quoting
VIII Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military
Tribunals (1952)). The majority also correctly notes that vari-
ous Nazi organizations were designated “criminal” by the
Nuremburg Military Tribunal. Maj. op. at 19364.
International criminal trials are but one means of remedy-
ing violations of international law—they are not the only
means of enforcement nor the only source of customary inter-
national law. The judgments of international criminal tribu-
nals provide useful insight as to the scope of customary
international law’s prohibitions of certain conduct—such as
genocide and war crimes. See Doe, 2011 WL 2652384, at *14
n.17 (“Crimes and torts frequently overlap. In particular, most
crimes that cause definite losses to ascertainable victims are
also torts . . . [In] a much earlier era of Anglo-American law,
5
The Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court restricts the tri-
bunal’s jurisdiction to natural persons. Art. 25(1), July 17, 1998, 2187
U.N.T.S. 3. The Rome Statute is, however, just one source of international
law, and it speaks only to criminal, not civil, liability. See id., art. 10 (not-
ing the Rome Statute does not necessarily codify existing customary inter-
national law).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19413
. . . criminal and tort proceedings were not distinguished.”
(internal quotation marks and citations omitted)). However,
because the judgments of international criminal tribunals are
rendered in criminal rather than civil trials, they must be used
with caution in the ATS context and should not be invoked as
a limiting factor regarding the capacity of defendants.
Finally, it bears noting that the incorporation of customary
international law into domestic tort suits is not unique to the
ATS. Federal courts acting in admiralty jurisdiction have long
imposed corporate liability for torts under general maritime
law, thus recognizing that federal common law often incorpo-
rates norms of international law. See The Amiable Nancy, 16
U.S. 546, 558 (1818) (holding, without further delineation,
“owners of [a] privateer” liable for tort); The “Scotland”, 105
U.S. 24, 27-30 (1881) (holding corporate owner of a private
ship liable but noting U.S. statute regarding shipowner liabil-
ity narrowed general maritime law’s rules of liability in
1851). General maritime law is analogous to modern custom-
ary international law in that its core is a small body of interna-
tional common law that is obligatory on all states and that has
been incorporated into federal common law. See Yamaha
Motor Corp., U.S.A. v. Calhoun, 516 U.S. 199, 206 (1996)
(referring to general maritime law as “a species of judge-
made federal common law”); see also David J. Bederman,
Law of the Land, Law of the Sea: The Lost Link Between Cus-
tomary International Law and the General Maritime Law, 51
VA. J. INT’L L. 299, 303-22 (2011) (describing connection
between customary international law and general maritime
law, particularly “[i]n the early legal history of the United
States”). This history of corporate liability under general mar-
itime law provides further support for the holding that corpo-
rate liability may lie under the ATS for at least some
violations of customary international law.
The language of the ATS, the federal common law of tort
liability at the time the statute was enacted, and the scope of
the international prohibitions of genocide and war crimes, all
19414 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
point to the conclusion that a corporation may be subject to
liability under the international norms prohibiting genocide
and war crimes.
III. SAREI HAS NOT SUFFICIENTLY STATED CLAIMS FOR
GENOCIDE AND WAR CRIMES.
I agree with the majority’s analysis of the international law
prohibitions on genocide and war crimes, but I cannot join its
conclusion that the claims survive dismissal. I would remand
to the district court with instructions to dismiss these two
claims but to consider whether leave to amend should be
granted.
The logic supporting the requirement that an international
norm must be “definable” or specific to give rise to an ATS
claim is that federal courts must have standards to draw upon
in adjudicating such claims. See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 732, citing
favorably In re Estate of Marcos Human Rights Litigation, 25
F.3d 1467, 1475 (9th Cir. 1994). When a claim relies on a
specific and obligatory international norm, and the traditional
sources of international law provide us with a clear definition
of prohibited conduct, we are obligated to adhere to that defi-
nition in measuring the allegations set forth in the complaint.
As to whether a claim meets pleading requirements, we look
to domestic law, or in this case more specifically to the
Supreme Court’s delineation of pleading standards in Ashcroft
v. Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. 1937, 1950 (2009).
A. GENOCIDE
The complaint includes allegations of killing and serious
bodily harm that are sufficient to infer the existence of geno-
cidal acts—what it lacks are allegations that plaintiffs belong
to a protected group. The essential components of a genocide
claim are: (1) genocidal acts, such as murder; (2) targeting a
protected group; (3) with intent to destroy that protected
group in whole or in part. See Convention on the Prevention
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19415
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (“Genocide Con-
vention”), art. II, Dec. 9, 1948, S. Exec. Doc. O, 81-1 (1949),
78 U.N.T.S. 277; see also Maj. op. at 19359-60.
Authoritative sources have interpreted the definition of a
protected group narrowly. The majority notes that the ICJ has
held that a “protected group” under the Genocide Convention
“must have particular positive characteristics—national, eth-
nic[ ], racial or religious—and not the lack of them.” Maj. Op.
at 19366; see Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia, 2007 I.C.J.
91, ¶¶ 193-196 (Feb. 26). Thus “Bosnian Muslims” constitute
a protected group under the Convention but a group defined
in the negative (“non-Serbs”) does not constitute a protected
group. Id. (“[T]he crime requires an intent to destroy a collec-
tion of people who have a particular group identity. It is a
matter of who those people are, not who they are not.”). Simi-
larly, one Trial Chamber Judgment at the International Crimi-
nal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia found that “the
Genocide Convention does not protect all types of human
groups. Its application is confined to national, ethnic[ ], racial
or religious groups.” Prosecutor v. Krstic, Case No. IT-98-33-
T, Judgment, ¶¶ 554-59 (Aug. 2, 2001) (rejecting the Prosecu-
tion’s attempt to define the protected group as “Bosnian Mus-
lims of Srebrenica” or “Bosnian Muslims of Eastern Bosnia,”
and holding geographical limitations are relevant to whether
a significant part of the group was targeted but may not be
used to define the protected group).6
The majority acknowledges this narrow definition of a pro-
tected group under international law, but then goes on to hold
that “residents of Bougainville constitute a protected group.”
Maj. op. at 19367. Here, I must part ways with the majority.
This protected group suffers from precisely the shortcoming
the ICTY identified with the prosecution’s effort to define the
6
The Trial Chamber’s Judgment defining the protected group was
unchanged by the Appeals Chamber Judgment. Prosecutor v. Krstic, Case
No. IT-98-33-A, Appeals Chamber Judgment, ¶ 15 (Apr. 19, 2004).
19416 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
Bosnian Muslims of Eastern Bosnia as “the protected group”
—the group is defined not by nationality or ethnicity but
instead by geography. See Krstic, Case No. IT-98-33-T, at
¶¶ 554-59.
Here, the complaint defines individual plaintiffs as “resi-
dent[s] of Bougainville” and not as belonging to any specific
national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. In its description of
the “war crimes class,” plaintiffs’ complaint includes “victims
and survivors of the Bougainville conflict.” The paragraph
alleging genocide under Count I refers in passing to “natives.”
The complaint refers repeatedly to “Bougainvilleans.” In
addition, the complaint describes land ownership on a “clan”
basis—leaving unstated whether “Bougainvilleans” is an
umbrella term including multiple protected groups or a single
racial or ethnic group. This ambiguity in the complaint ren-
ders the allegations insufficient. In fact, the allegations closely
resemble arguments rejected by the ICJ and the ICTY to
define a protected group for purposes of genocide based upon
what a group is not or the geographic range in which individ-
uals were targeted. The majority is content to conclude the
complaint establishes “ethnic and racial traits sufficient to
make Bougainvilleans a protected group,” but in my view the
complaint’s failure to specify a protected group to which
“Bougainvilleans” belong is a deficiency that warrants dis-
missing the claim—defining the protected group is the essen-
tial first step to making an allegation that defendants acted
with the specific intent to destroy that group. See Genocide
Convention, art. II; see also Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550
U.S. 544, 556 n.3 (2007) (plaintiffs must in the complaint
“provid[e] not only fair notice of the nature of the claim, but
also grounds on which the claim rests” (internal quotation
marks and citation omitted)).
B. WAR CRIMES
Rio Tinto’s purported role in the commission of war crimes
is difficult to ascertain from the complaint. The complaint is
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19417
a jumble of facts and conclusory statements that do not allege
a coherent theory of Rio Tinto’s involvement in the alleged
war crimes. The complaint fails to tell the basic story of who,
what, where and when with respect to the war crimes claims,
and Rio Tinto’s role is amorphous at best.7 The majority fails
to take heed of the Supreme Court’s recent reminder that “for-
mulaic recitations of the elements” of a claim and “naked
assertions devoid of further factual enhancement” are insuffi-
cient to survive a motion to dismiss. Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. at 1949,
1951 (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted).
The majority holds that the international norm prohibiting
war crimes includes within its proscription aiding and abetting
the commission of war crimes,8 just as the international norm
7
It is also unclear where the crimes against humanity claim ends and
where the war crimes claim begins. See Maj. op. at 19373-74 (relying on
allegations supporting the crimes against humanity claim to conclude the
complaint adequately alleges war crimes).
8
It bears noting that aiding and abetting, like corporate liability, raises
the question whether the mode of liability is part and parcel of the conduct
regulated by the international norm or more akin to a cause of action that
should be analyzed under federal common law. Compare Doe, 2011 WL
2652384, at *21-22 (distinguishing between “conduct-governing norms”
and “the technical accouterments to a cause of action” (internal quotation
marks and citation omitted)) and Khulumani, 504 F. 3d at 264-77 (Katz-
mann, J. concurring) (looking to international law to define aiding and
abetting liability) with id. at 285-91 (Hall, J., concurring) (looking to fed-
eral common law to define accessorial liability). I believe much of this
debate boils down to the difficulty in deciphering where the conduct-
regulating international norms end and the remedy-specific standards of
domestic law begin. Aiding and abetting is not necessarily tied up in the
international norm; it arguably fits comfortably within the framework of
a cause of action—the legal theory of relief. See Cent. Bank of Denver,
N.A. v. First Interstate Bank of Denver, N.A., 511 U.S. 164, 173-78 (1994)
(discussing the scope of the “private . . . cause of action” under Rule 10b-
5 and concluding that it does not include an “aiding and abetting cause of
action”). I do not resolve this conundrum here because even under the
knowledge standard dictated by domestic law, Sarei’s complaint is defi-
cient. Under domestic law, aiding and abetting requires more than knowl-
edge of relevant facts alone; it also requires an affirmative act of aiding,
19418 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
includes corporations within its ambit. Maj. op. at 19363-66.
To the extent the international norm requires purposive action
in furtherance of a war crime to establish aiding and abetting
liability, the complaint fails to allege the necessary purpose to
survive the motion to dismiss.9 I would therefore reverse and
remand to the district court for consideration of whether leave
to amend is proper.
The complaint adequately alleges that war crimes were
committed in Bougainville, ostensibly by the PNG govern-
ment. However, the very language of the complaint under-
scores its frailties. Rio Tinto’s role in the war crimes and the
timing of those crimes (particularly as related to Rio Tinto’s
alleged actions supplying equipment to the PNG forces)
remains untethered to purposive action. At best the complaint
counseling, commanding, inducing or procuring another to commit each
element of the crime, in this case murder in violation of the law of nations.
See, e.g., NINTH CIRCUIT MODEL CRIMINAL JURY INSTRUCTIONS 5.1 (2010)
(“Aiding and Abetting”), available at http://207.41.19.15/web/
sdocuments.nsf/crim.
9
I am cognizant that most international tribunals have employed a
knowledge mens rea in assigning aiding and abetting liability for war
crimes. See Tadic, IT-94-1-A at ¶ 229(iv); see also James Morrissey,
Presbyterian Church of Sudan v. Talisman Energy, Inc.: Aiding and Abet-
ting Liability Under the Alien Tort Statute, 20 MINN. J. INT’L L. 144, 158-
67 (2011). However, I agree with the majority and with the Second Circuit
that the Rome Statute’s imposition of the narrower and more exacting
standard of purpose reflects a lack of uniformity as to the imposition of
aiding and abetting liability based on knowledge alone. See Maj. op. at
19373-74; see also Presbyterian Church of Sudan v. Talisman Energy,
Inc., 582 F.3d 244, 259 (2d Cir. 2009). There is no dispute that aiding and
abetting the violation of the law of nations is prohibited under interna-
tional law. But there is no uniform agreement on the full scope of what
conduct qualifies as aiding and abetting; at a minimum, however, there is
universal agreement that purposive conduct to aid and abet the commis-
sion of a war crime violates the law of nations. The minimum core of con-
duct universally and specifically prohibited by international law includes
purposively aiding and abetting the commission of a war crime, and such
action therefore gives rise to an ATS suit under Sosa. See 542 U.S. at 732.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19419
alleges facts giving rise to an inference that Rio Tinto had
knowledge of war crimes committed by PNG forces, but
missing is the purposive action the majority holds is required
to establish aiding and abetting liability. See Maj. op. at
19373-75; see also Talisman, 582 F.3d at 259. As a result, I
dissent from the majority’s holding that the complaint estab-
lishes the requisite plausibility to survive the motion to dis-
miss. See Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. at 1949 (“Where a complaint
pleads facts that are merely consistent with a defendant’s lia-
bility, it stops short of the line between possibility and plausi-
bility of entitlement to relief.” (internal quotation marks and
citation omitted)); see also Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570.
A few examples are illustrative of the difficulties with the
complaint. The allegations support an inference of mere
knowledge on Rio Tinto’s part that Bougainville residents
might be injured or killed as a result of military action taken
by PNG in the context of an ongoing conflict and related to
the reopening of Rio Tinto’s mining operations on Bougain-
ville. Such an allegation is not surprising, nor particularly illu-
minating, in light of the ongoing conflict between the PNG
and the militants, who were also residents of the island. Miss-
ing is the link between Rio Tinto and the PNG’s alleged war
crimes—the murder of civilians. Intent to harm, particularly
in the context of an ongoing conflict, is not equivalent to
intent to further murder in violation of the Geneva Conven-
tions. See Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. at 1948 (in the context of discrimi-
nation, purposeful action “requires more than intent as
volition or intent as awareness of consequences.” (internal
quotation marks and citation omitted)).
Another shortcoming relates to the allegations of “assis-
tance” to the PNG. “[A]ssistance to the abuses of a govern-
ment [which] was merely incidental to a proper business
purpose” does not give rise to ATS liability for aiding and
abetting a violation of the law of nations. Kiobel v. Royal
Dutch Petroleum Co., ___ F. 3d ___, 2011 WL 338048 at *7
(2d Cir. Feb. 4, 2011) (No. 06-4800-CV, 06-4876-CV) (order
19420 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
denying petition for rehearing en banc) (Leval, J., dissenting
from denial of rehearing en banc). In my view, this case is
akin to the unsuccessful ATS suit outlined in Talisman. See
582 F.3d at 262. There, the Second Circuit held that Talisman
did not aid and abet war crimes even if it provided substantial
assistance in the form of upgraded airstrips or roads for mili-
tary use, because there was no evidence that Talisman
intended to “aid atrocities” and particularly because the com-
pany apparently had a “legitimate need to rely on the military
for defense.” Id. The situation here, at least as currently pled
in the complaint, is not dissimilar. It is not alleged that Rio
Tinto intended for the war crime of murder to be committed.
See Prosecutor v. Tadic, Case No. IT-94-1-A, Judgment (July
15, 1999), ¶ 229(iv) (distinguishing between the knowledge
mens rea which requires only “knowledge that the acts per-
formed by the aider and abettor assist the commission of a
specific crime by the principal,” from the mens rea of pur-
pose, which requires “intent to perpetrate the crime”); see also
Twombly, 550 U.S. at 556 (“parallel conduct” is insufficient
to establish unlawful agreement in the context of conspiracy).
The pleading inadequacies are not inconsequential as they
go to the heart of the international norm violations. I therefore
respectfully dissent from Part IV(B)(4) of the majority opin-
ion.
IV. CONCLUSION
This appeal once again takes us into uncharted ATS waters.
The alleged actions include horrific human rights violations,
and I do not hesitate to apply the jus cogens norms prohibiting
genocide and war crimes to corporations given the truly uni-
versal nature of those prohibitions. Here, however, the nature
of those human rights violations and Rio Tinto’s role in them
are insufficiently articulated under the pleading standards
required by the Supreme Court. I would remand, with instruc-
tions for the district court to dismiss the genocide and war
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19421
crimes claims and consider whether leave to amend is appro-
priate.
BEA, Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part,
with whom KLEINFELD and CALLAHAN, Circuit Judges,
join, and with whom Judge IKUTA, Circuit Judge, joins as to
all but Part III:
The last time this case was before us, the en banc court
remanded to the district court to “determine in the first
instance whether to impose an exhaustion requirement” on
plaintiffs’ claims under the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”).1 Sarei
v. Rio Tinto PLC, 550 F.3d 822, 832 (9th Cir. 2008) (“Rio
Tinto III”). In determining whether such an exhaustion analy-
sis was required, our Rio Tinto III plurality opinion (“Plurality
opinion”) instructed the district court first to consider and bal-
ance two factors: (1) the strength of the nexus, if any, between
the United States and the acts and omissions alleged in the
complaint—the less nexus, the more reason for exhaustion,
and (2) the gravity of the violations alleged, namely whether
the claims implicated “matters of universal concern”—the
more grave the violations, the less reason for exhaustion. Id.
at 831.
Then, if this two-factor balancing test weighed in favor of
imposing such an exhaustion requirement, the plurality opin-
ion instructed the district court it should then perform the tra-
ditional two-part exhaustion analysis. That analysis would
require the district court to consider: (1) whether the foreign
plaintiffs had local remedies where the alleged torts occurred
1
“Exhaustion Requirement” meant plaintiffs would be first required to
sue defendant in the courts of Papua-New Guinea, where they alleged the
defendant did what they claim hurt them. Only after pursuing their legal
remedies there—or proving such pursuit was futile—could plaintiffs
attempt to use U.S. courts.
19422 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
and had exhausted them, and, if not, (2) whether any exhaus-
tion requirement is excused because local remedies are inef-
fective, unobtainable, unduly prolonged, inadequate, or
otherwise futile to pursue. Were the district court to find the
balance of “nexus” versus “matters of universal concern”
weighed against such an exhaustion requirement for a given
claim, then that claim could proceed without any consider-
ation to exhaustion of local remedies.
In our remand order, we specifically instructed the district
court to consider and weigh both factors in the prudential
exhaustion framework—nexus and universal concern—
regardless the strength or weakness of either factor. Even if
the district court were to find that plaintiffs’ claims implicated
matters of universal concern, “simply because universal juris-
diction might be available, does not mean that we should
exercise it.” Id. Instead, the plurality opinion stated that “in
ATS cases where the United States “nexus” is weak, courts
should carefully consider the question of exhaustion, particu-
larly but not exclusively—with respect to claims that do not
involve matters of ‘universal concern.’ ” Id. (emphasis
added). That meant that no matter how clear it was that a
claim did involve matters of “universal concern,” the district
court should still balance against that ground for dispensing
with exhaustion an evaluation of what nexus, if any, existed
between the violation claimed and our country.
Nonetheless, the district court—ostensibly purporting to
apply the plurality opinion’s framework—summarily con-
cluded that no exhaustion analysis was required because
plaintiffs’ allegations were of such a “heinous” nature that
they stated “matters of universal concern.” Sarei v. Rio Tinto
PLC, 650 F. Supp. 2d 1004, 1031 (C.D. Cal. July 31, 2009)
(“Rio Tinto IV”). This “heinous” finding apparently applied
indistinctly to each of four claims: genocide, war crimes,
crimes against humanity (by blockade of medical supplies),
and racial discrimination. Id. at 1032. The district court made
no finding that any of such claims was more “heinous” than
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19423
another, nor implicated “matters of universal concern” to a
great extent. Likewise, the district court did not state whether
any one, or any combination of less than four of the allega-
tions, were sufficient to implicate “matters of universal con-
cern.”
Then, without discussion of any facts which may have
proved the presence or extent of a nexus—“weak,” “strong,”
or otherwise—between such allegations of “heinous” acts and
the U.S., the district court simply found that the “heinous”
acts outweighed the “weak nexus” to the U.S. Id. at 1031.
Here, the district court erred by skipping an essential step: it
should have determined whether there was any nexus at all
between the acts alleged and the United States. As discussed
below, that should have been determinative for imposing the
exhaustion requirement, resulting in dismissal of the com-
plaint.
And now we have an additional problem with the district
court’s action—a problem which ineluctably requires reversal
and remand: this court’s present majority opinion knocks out
two of the four allegations which the district court found all
stated “matters of universal concern.”2 Do the remaining two
allegations (war crimes and genocide) outweigh the consider-
ations of lack of—or even weakness of—nexus? It is not for
us to say, under the mandate of the earlier plurality opinion.
It is for the district court to determine. Even if we find no
error in the district court’s original determination that consid-
eration of the allegations outweighed the consideration of
nexus, we now have a different balance to be weighed: fewer
valid allegations than before, but the same nexus, or lack
2
The majority opinion holds that the international law norms identified
by the district court against racial discrimination and crimes against
humanity arising out of the blockade of medical supplies are not suffi-
ciently “specific, universal or obligatory” under Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain,
542 U.S. 692, 732 (2004). I agree with the majority opinion on both of
these issues.
19424 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
thereof. A new balance must be struck, and it must be struck
by the district court.
I. Failure properly to consider “nexus”
The district court defined its terms so as to predetermine
the outcome of the prudential exhaustion requirement it was
ordered to carry out. The district court defined the “spectrum”
on which to measure the nexus between the claims and the
United States as running from “weakest” to “strongest,”
instead of running from “no nexus” to “strong nexus.” It
assumed there was at least some nexus.
But there was no such nexus. This case involves a so-called
“Foreign-cubed suit”3: a foreign plaintiff suing a foreign
defendant for alleged torts which occurred entirely on foreign
soil. The only connection the plaintiffs can identify between
their causes of action and the United States is that Rio Tinto,
a British corporation, does business in the U.S. These busi-
ness activities may provide a sufficient basis for the exercise
of personal jurisdiction by a federal court over Rio Tinto. See,
e.g., Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U.S. 714 (1878); Int’l Shoe Co. v.
Washington, 326 U.S. 310 (1945). But that was not the issue
to be determined on remand; “nexus” was. By “nexus” was
meant whether Rio Tinto’s alleged acts of genocide and war
crimes in Papua-New Guinea—approximately 4,300 miles
southwest of Hawaii, our state closest to Papua-New Guinea
—had any connection with the United States. Rio Tinto’s only
alleged connections with the U.S. were its operations and
assets in this country—which operations and assets are not
even claimed to be in any way related to the acts of genocide
and war crimes alleged by the plaintiffs as culpable conduct
of Rio Tinto. Thus, there simply is no nexus between the acts
complained of in this action and the United States. In fact, in
this era of globalization, it is indeed difficult to imagine a suit
3
Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., 130 S. Ct. 2869, 2894 n.11
(Stevens, J., concurring).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19425
where the United States would have less of an interest or con-
nection to the facts underlying the complaint.
Of course, by self-defining the low range of the nexus spec-
trum as “weak nexus,” the district court was able to mis-
characterize the nexus in this case as “weak” instead of
inexistent. To support this implausible factual finding, the dis-
trict court relied on the plurality opinion’s unexplained state-
ment that, based on appearances—not examined evidence—
plaintiffs’ allegations “lack[ed] a significant United States
‘nexus.’ ” Rio Tinto III, 550 F.3d at 831. But a district court’s
unexplained reliance on tentative, unreasoned appellate dicta
cannot take the place of reasoned analysis based on proof,
particularly where every fact and inference to be drawn from
the record suggests that there is no nexus at all between the
plaintiffs’ claims and the United States. See United States v.
Hinkson, 585 F.3d 1247, 1251 (9th Cir. 2009) (en banc), cert.
denied, ___ S.Ct. ___, 2011 WL 1457546 (Apr 18, 2011).
From that factual error, let us go to the legal error. Having
implausibly found that the United States has a “weak” nexus
to the suit when in fact no such nexus exists, the district court
misapplied the balancing test set forth in the remand order.
The plurality opinion stated that “where the United States
“nexus” is weak, courts should carefully consider the question
of exhaustion, particularly—but not exclusively—with respect
to claims that do not involve matters of ‘universal concern.’ ”
Rio Tinto III, 550 F.3d at 831 (emphasis added). In other
words, the district court should be especially solicitous of
imposing an exhaustion requirement when the nexus is weak
and the claims do not implicate matters of universal concern.
But it should weigh the nexus issue even where the matters
are of “universal concern.”
The district court’s opinion provides no basis for us to
review that any such balancing took place. In fact, in her 31-
page opinion, the district court dedicated only one sentence to
her purported balancing of the nexus and universal concern
19426 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
factors. This one sentence consists of a conclusory assertion
that the “weak nexus” between the plaintiffs’ claims and the
United States “is outweighed by the ‘heinous’ nature of the
allegations on which the claims are based.” Rio Tinto IV, 650
F. Supp. 2d at 1031.
Nor did the district court try to reconcile its new rule
exempting allegations of “heinous” conduct of universal con-
cern from the exhaustion requirement with the remand order’s
statement that mere universal jurisdiction for a claim is not
itself a sufficient condition for exempting exhaustion. See Rio
Tinto III, 550 F.3d at 831. Perhaps worst of all, the only
authority the district court cited for her conclusion that char-
acterizing acts as “heinous” suffices to outweigh the weakness
or inexistence of any nexus between the “heinous” acts and
the United States is Judge Reinhardt’s dissent in Rio Tinto III
—which dissent opposed imposition of any exhaustion
requirement, prudential, mandatory, or in between, for any
claims brought under the ATS and which dissent performed
no balancing or weighing of “nexus” versus “matters of uni-
versal concern.” Much as we may respect and value a dissent,
it is not Ninth Circuit precedential authority.
Under the abuse of discretion standard, we must defer to
reasonable applications of multi-factor balancing tests. But
where the district court fails to perform the prescribed balanc-
ing test, detail how it weighed the relevant factors, or other-
wise explain its conclusion, such deference is inapplicable.
See Solis v. Cnty. of Los Angeles, 514 F.3d 946, 958 (9th Cir.
2008) (reversing because the district court failed to consider
a relevant factor or provide an adequate explanation for its
decision, rendering meaningful appellate review impossible).
To uphold a district court’s ruling which directly flouts our
instructions is to encourage instability in our law.
II. Majority opinion requires a remand
As noted, the majority opinion determines that allegations
of “crimes against humanity” (per blockade) and of “racial
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19427
discrimination” do not constitute claims sufficiently specific,
universal, and obligatory so as to violate jus cogens (custom-
ary international law). Therefore, such allegations do not
implicate “matters of universal concern.”
Given this result, the district court’s failure to articulate the
ordered balancing between “nexus” and “matters of universal
concern” makes now mandatory a remand for a new determi-
nation of prudential exhaustion. We cannot tell from the dis-
trict court’s opinion if any of the allegations of the complaint
found valid by the majority opinion were, by themselves or in
conjunction, sufficiently “heinous” as to outweigh the lack of
nexus, or whether it was the other allegations in some combi-
nation, or in total which outweighed the lack of nexus. Per-
haps now, with the allegations of “crimes against humanity”
and “racial discrimination” knocked out, the remaining allega-
tions will not outweigh the lack of nexus. Either way, a
remand is in order.
III. Mandatory exhaustion required
Because I find that our mandate to exercise prudential
exhaustion was not carried out, I do not want to be understood
to have abandoned the view that exhaustion of local remedies
is mandatorily required by “the law of nations.” It is not
solely a matter of judicial prudence to require such exhaus-
tion. The incorporation of substantive international law (the
law of nations) into the ATS necessarily incorporates not just
the traditional causes of action recognized by the law of
nations, but also the traditional limitations placed on those
rights by customary international law. One of those well-
established limitations is exhaustion of local remedies. Rio
Tinto III, 550 F.3d at 833 (Bea, J., concurring); see also Jose
E. Alvarez, 14th Annual Herbert Rubin and Justice Rose Lut-
tan Rubin International Law Symposium: A Bit on Custom, 42
N.Y.U. J. Int’l L. & Pol. 17, 72 (2009) (recognizing exhaus-
tion of local remedies as one of the “fundamental rules of cus-
tomary international law”).
19428 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
Mandatory exhaustion analysis is not simply a historical
remnant or an administrative or procedural rule. As recog-
nized by legal scholars and our courts, the exhaustion require-
ment plays a critical role in American foreign relations by
preventing our judiciary from interjecting itself into ongoing
international disputes or interfering with domestic matters of
sovereign nations.4 Because a mandatory exhaustion require-
ment is supported by the Supreme Court’s holding and lan-
guage in Sosa,5 by the language and purpose of the ATS, and
by customary international law, I continue to believe that
there should be mandatory exhaustion analysis for all claims
raised under the ATS in federal court.
IV. Conclusion
I believe the district court erred in applying the rules of
prudential exhaustion as ordered by us in Rio Tinto III’s plu-
rality opinion; but even if I am wrong on that, our majority
opinion now requires a remand and a new application of pru-
dential exhaustion. I also believe plaintiffs’ claims are barred
by the mandatory exhaustion provisions of the law of nations.
For both these reasons, I respectfully dissent.
4
Judge Kleinfeld’s fine dissent explains that the ATS was passed pre-
cisely for this reason: to prevent international conflict between the United
States and other sovereign nations by providing foreign plaintiffs (namely,
Ministers and ambassadors) with a cause of action in federal court for torts
committed against them on U.S. soil, at a time—shortly after our Revolu-
tionary War—when most states did not permit foreigners to sue Ameri-
cans in tort.
5
The Court noted that, in determining the availability of relief in federal
courts for violations of customary international law, it would “certainly
consider” whether “the claimant must have exhausted any remedies avail-
able in the domestic legal system, and perhaps in other forums such as
international claims tribunals.” Sosa, 542 U.S. at 733 n.21.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19429
KLEINFELD, Circuit Judge, dissenting, with whom BEA and
IKUTA, Circuit Judges, join:
I respectfully dissent.
“[T]here must be some rule of law to guide [a] court in the
exercise of its jurisdiction.”1 The complaint in this case seeks
damages and an injunction against Rio Tinto, a British-
Australian corporation, for wrongs against people in Bougain-
ville, Papua New Guinea.2 Now that our court has adopted
universal jurisdiction to grant tort damages for violations by
foreigners against foreigners in foreign lands of “the law of
nations,” in a plethora of opinions that cannot agree on what
the “law of nations” prohibits, we on the Ninth Circuit now
exercise jurisdiction over all the earth, on whatever matters
we decide are so important that all civilized people should
agree with us.
1
Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 165 (1803).
2
The claims are: (1) crimes against humanity amounting to genocide, by
encouraging the Papua New Guinea government in their blockade of Bou-
gainville; (2) war crimes, by cooperating with Papua New Guinea in vio-
lence against civilians; (3) violating the universal right to life by
appropriating land, emitting toxic mine waste, and otherwise damaging the
environment of Bougainville; (4) discriminating by race, in that these
wrongs were committed with a mentality of regarding Bougainvilleans as
inferior because of the color of their skin, and Rio Tinto hired numerous
outsiders and paid them more than Papua New Guineans; (5) engaging in
cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment of the people of Bougainville; (6)
violating international rights to a healthy environment; (7) engaging in a
systematic pattern of these violations of human rights; (8) negligently
manufacturing and disposing of tailings, chemicals, and toxic effluents;
(9) creating a public nuisance to health; (10) creating a private nuisance
by impairing the use of Bougainvilleans’ land; (11) strict liability for using
defective technology for mining, leading to pollution; (12) injunctive relief
to remedy the environmental harms; and (13) entitlement to the costs of
medical monitoring for those exposed to the pollutants. This is a class
action, seeking certification of a “War Crimes Class,” an “Environmental
Right to Life Class,” and a “Medical Monitoring Class.”
19430 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
We have no such jurisdiction. The majority claims it under
a 1789 statute passed by the First Congress that conferred tort
jurisdiction on the new federal courts for torts in violation of
the “law of nations.” That statute was intended to enable our
courts to address wrongs done in the United States to foreign-
ers and wrongs done outside any foreign state’s territory. Here
is the statute:
The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of
any civil action by an alien for a tort only, commit-
ted in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of
the United States.3
The statute does not say “in the United States or in any for-
eign state.” The majority reads it as though it does.
The majority errs in claiming jurisdiction because:
(1) the statute does not say that it applies within the territory
of other states and its historical context shows that its purpose
was to afford a remedy for wrongs committed within the
United States;
(2) the reference to the “law of nations” does not imply appli-
cability within other countries, and such application would
itself violate the law of nations;
(3) the inference of such application from the phrase “the law
of nations” is prohibited by Supreme Court holdings that stat-
utes do not apply extraterritorially unless they say so or
clearly so imply; and
3
28 U.S.C. § 1350. In its original, materially similar language, the stat-
ute provided that federal courts “shall . . . have cognizance, concurrent
with the courts of the several States, or the circuit courts, as the case may
be, of all causes where an alien sues for a tort only in violation of the law
of nations or a treaty of the United States.” 1 Stat. 80, ch. 20, § 9(b)
(1789).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19431
(4) jurisdiction over piracy on the high seas does not imply
jurisdiction over wrongs committed within the territory of a
foreign state.
The consequences of the majority’s claim are a new imperi-
alism, entitling our court, and not the peoples of other coun-
tries, to make the law governing persons within those
countries. Our court now asserts entitlement to make law for
all the peoples of the entire planet.
The Alien Tort Statute does not so empower us. It was pro-
mulgated to enable foreigners to sue for violations in America
of a narrow set of norms, where failure to vindicate the
wrongs might embroil our weak, new nation in diplomatic or
military disputes. The wrongs were to ambassadorial officials
in the United States, and piracy, sometimes by Americans.
There are three classes of territory, not two, for purposes of
law of nations analysis: territory within the United States; ter-
ritory outside the United States and outside any other state;
and territory outside the United States and within another
state. Both the last two are extraterritorial, but the law of
nations differs as between them. Piracy occurs within the sec-
ond class. Jurisdiction has always extended extraterritorially
to the high seas, not because piracy was more heinous than
other crimes, but because imposition of any state’s law could
offend no other state’s governance of its own territory.
Advocates of universal jurisdiction see themselves as dem-
onstrating enlightened open-mindedness to international law
norms; instead, universal jurisdiction violates the most long-
established, central and fundamental principle of the law of
nations: “equality of sovereignty,” as it is called, meaning
each sovereign’s authority over its subjects in its own territory
equals that of other sovereigns within their respective territo-
ries, and excludes other sovereigns’ authority within that sov-
ereign’s territory. Whether this is always a good rule as a
matter of policy is debatable, but whether it is historically the
most fundamental rule of the law of nations is not.
19432 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
Our case is by Papua New Guineans, against a British-
Australian company, for wrongs allegedly committed in Bou-
gainville in connection with the civil war between Papua New
Guinea and the people of Bougainville. Justice Stevens would
describe this type of lawsuit, where foreign plaintiffs sue for-
eign defendants for wrongs committed in foreign countries, as
a “foreign-cubed” action. The complaint seeks class action
certification, equitable relief, and compensatory and punitive
damages against Rio Tinto. Every single wrong claimed by
the plaintiffs is alleged to have occurred in Bougainville,
either by Rio Tinto or by the government of Papua New
Guinea acting with the encouragement of Rio Tinto. The
injunction sought would be an order by an American district
judge compelling environmental and other remedial action by
Rio Tinto in Bougainville. No relationship is alleged between
any of the wrongs claimed, or the remedies sought, and any
American citizen or the United States.
The Governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland, and of the Commonwealth of Australia,
argue as amici that “it is a bedrock principle of international
law that each sovereign nation is equally entitled to prescribe
laws and to adjudicate claims regarding those persons within
its sovereign territory.”4 They are correct. They made substan-
tially the same argument as amici before the Supreme Court
in Morrison v. National Australia Bank.5 The Supreme Court
4
Brief of the Governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland and the Commonwealth of Australia as Amici Curiae in
Support of the Defendants-Appellees/Cross-Appellants at 5 (Nos. 02-
56256, 02-56390, 09-56381); see also John H. Herz, Rise and Demise of
the Territorial State, 9 World Pol. 473, 480-81 (1957) (“[O]nly to the
extent that it reflected their territoriality and took into account their sover-
eignty could international law develop . . . . [S]overeign units must know
in some detail where their jurisdictions end and those of other units begin;
without such standards, nations would be involved in constant strife over
the implementation of their independence.”).
5
Morrison v. Nat’l Austl. Bank Ltd., 130 S. Ct. 2869, 2885-86 (2010);
see also Brief of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ire-
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19433
accepted it.6 Scholarship in other countries has supported this
British and Australian view, and criticized overweening
American claims.7
I. Historical Context.
The First Congress passed the Alien Tort Statute to deal
with domestic violations of the law of nations that created
risks for our foreign relations, and perhaps our new nation’s
continued existence. The problem was not that some far-away
wrongdoer might violate the law of nations in some other
country, but that violations had occurred and would occur
land as Amicus Curiae in Support of Respondents at 2, Morrison v. Nat’l
Austl. Bank Ltd., 130 S. Ct. 2869 (2010) (No. 08-1191) (“The risk of
infringing upon the sovereignty of other nations is a particular concern
with respect to . . . cases involving foreign purchasers, a foreign issuer,
and alleged harm suffered in transactions on a foreign securities exchange
(so-called ‘foreign-cubed’ securities cases).”); Brief of the Government of
the Commonwealth of Australia as Amicus Curiae in Support of the
Defendants-Appellees at 1-2, Morrison v. Nat’l Austl. Bank Ltd., 130 S.
Ct. 2869 (2010) (No. 08-1191) (arguing that Australia “is opposed to
overly broad assertions of extraterritorial jurisdiction over aliens arising
out of foreign disputes, because such litigation can interfere with national
sovereignty and result in legal uncertainty”).
6
See Morrison, 130 S. Ct. at 2886-88.
7
See, e.g., Arrest Warrant of 11 Apr. 2000 (Dem. Rep. Congo v. Belg.),
2002 I.C.J. 3, 38, 44 (Feb. 14) (separate opinion of Pres. Guillaume); R
v. Bartle, ex parte Pinochet Ugarte, [2000] 1 A.C. 61 (H.L.) 79 (Lord
Slynn of Hadley, dissenting) (appeal taken from Q.B. Div’l Ct.) (U.K.),
reprinted in 37 I.L.M. 1302, 1312-13 (1998) (“It does not seem to me that
it has been shown that there is any State practice or general consensus let
alone a widely supported convention that all crimes against international
law should be justiciable in National Courts on the basis of the universal-
ity of jurisdiction . . . . That international law crimes should be tried before
international tribunals or in the perpetrator’s own state is one thing; that
they should be impleaded without regard to a long-established customary
international law rule in the Courts of other states is another. . . . The fact
even that an act is recognised as a crime under international law does not
mean that the Courts of all States have jurisdiction to try it . . . . There is
no universality of jurisdiction for crimes against international law . . . .”).
19434 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
within the United States that could, if unremedied, cause dip-
lomatic or military hostility by other nations. We had just
signed a peace treaty with Great Britain after a War of Inde-
pendence we barely won. We could ill afford diplomatic prob-
lems with the British, who bordered us on the north, the
Spanish, who then bordered us on the south and west,8 or the
French, whose support had been essential to our independence.9
Given our precariousness, the First Congress was con-
cerned that American, not foreign, violations of the law of
nations might “afford just causes of war,”10 a war we likely
could not win. The law of nations established that the state in
which it was violated must afford a remedy, or else the victim
state was entitled to take “reprisal” for “denial of justice” by
the state in which the wrong occurred. Thus, if, say, a French
consul’s right was violated in Philadelphia, and American
courts afforded no remedy, then France was entitled to repri-
sal, which could even include war. This problem is not con-
fined to the eighteenth century. For example, in the Don
Pacifico affair of 1850, a mob in Athens wrecked a British
subject’s house, and when his claim for compensation from
the Greek government was resisted, the British fleet was
ordered to Greece to compel monetary settlement.11 The Ira-
nian government’s refusal to remedy the hostage crisis of
1979 to 1981 is a recent example.
The Federalist Papers justified creation of federal courts in
part because “denial of justice” for violation of the law of
nations would justify “reprisal.” Federalist 80 by Hamilton
explained that a federal judiciary needed jurisdiction over
8
The statute preceded France’s reacquisition of the territory from Spain
and preceded the Louisiana purchase.
9
The Federalist No. 3, at 14-15 (John Jay) (Jacob E. Cooke ed., 1961).
10
Id. at 16.
11
James Renwick, The Life and Work of Gladstone 30-31 (1905); See
Alwyn V. Freeman, The International Responsibility of States for Denial
of Justice 1, 19-20 (1938).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19435
matters “which involve the PEACE” because “[t]he union will
undoubtedly be answerable to foreign powers for the conduct
of its members. And the responsibility for an injury ought
ever to be accompanied with the faculty of preventing it”
since “the denial . . . of justice” is “classed among the just
causes of war.”12
Two specific violations of the law of nations within the
United States compelled immediate promulgation of the Alien
Tort Statute in 1789.13 In the Marbois affair of 1784, a French
national had assaulted a French consul in Philadelphia.14 Inter-
ference with an ambassador or consul violates the law of
nations, and failure to afford protection or a remedy would
entitle France to a “reprisal” against the United States.15
France lodged a diplomatic protest with the United States
because the affray, on American soil, was an American
responsibility. Our Articles of Confederation government
lacked a national judiciary, and had to rely on Pennsylvania
state courts to provide a remedy. The national government
had no means of assuring that those state courts would.16
This problem arose again in 1787, shortly after the Consti-
tutional Convention in Philadelphia. A New York City con-
stable entered a Dutch diplomat’s residence with a warrant for
one of the diplomat’s domestic servants. The Dutch govern-
ment protested the violation of its sovereignty.17 This viola-
12
The Federalist No. 80, at 534-36 (Alexander Hamilton) (Jacob E.
Cooke ed., 1961).
13
See Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 716-17 (2004).
14
Respublica v. De Longchamps, 1 Dall. 111, 111-12 (Pa. 1784); Letter
from Thomas Jefferson to Charles Thomson (May 21, 1784), reprinted in
IV The Works of Thomas Jefferson 363 (Paul Leicester Ford ed. 1894).
15
See E. de Vattel, The Law of Nations or the Principles of Natural Law
Applied to the Conduct and to the Affairs of Nations and of Sovereigns,
bk. IV, §§ 80-82, at 371-72 (photo. reprint 1993) (Charles G. Fenwick
trans., Carnegie Inst. of Wash., 1916) (1758).
16
See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 717.
17
Id.
19436 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
tion of the law of nations in New York complicated our
relations with the Netherlands.18
These violations of the law of nations occurred on Ameri-
can soil. That is why they required an American response to
head off reprisals.19 As Justice Stevens explained in the oral
argument in Sosa, the “only [relevant law of nations viola-
tions the First Congress] knew about had taken place in the
United States” and “[t]hey certainly would not have been con-
cerned about an assault on the — say, the English ambassador
in Paris by a Frenchman.”20
Because these violations of the law of nations took place on
American soil, American sovereignty allowed, and the law of
nations required, the United States to provide an adequate
means of redress.21 The Alien Tort Statute afforded a remedy
18
See 34 Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789, at 109 (Ros-
coe R. Hill ed., 1937).
19
Vattel, The Law of Nations, bk. II, § 350, at 230 (noting that “reprisals
should only be resorted to when justice can not be otherwise obtained. .
. . Justice may be refused in several ways: (1) By an outright denial of jus-
tice or by a refusal to hear the complaints of a State or of its subjects or
to allow the subjects to assert their rights before the ordinary tribunals”
(emphasis added)); see also H.W. Halleck, International Law, ch. XII,
§ 11, at 297 (photo. reprint 2000) (1861) (noting how, in situations like
those described by Vattel, “the government of the injured [foreigner] may
. . . demand justice, and if it be refused, resort to reprisals . . . . Subjects
must submit to the authority of the law, however great the injustice, but
foreigners are under no such obligation, for their own state may, by force,
compel the execution of justice on their behalf”).
20
Transcript of Oral Argument at 40 (Question of Justice Stevens), Sosa
v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692 (2004) (No. 03-339), available at
http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/03-
339.pdf; cf. Doe v. Exxon Mobil Corp., No. 09-7125, slip op. at 12, ___
F.3d ___, 2011 WL 2652384, at *51 (D.C. Cir. July 8, 2011) (Kavanaugh,
J., dissenting) (“It would be very odd to think that the Congress of 1789
wanted to create a federal tort cause of action enforceable in [a] U.S. court
for, say, a Frenchman injured in London.”).
21
See William Blackstone, 4 Commentaries *67-68 (“But where the
individuals of any state violate this general law [of nations], it is then the
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19437
necessary to assure peace when the law of nations was vio-
lated within the United States.22 The nation’s security would
be at risk if the state courts failed to provide appropriate rem-
edies for violations of the law of nations occurring within
their jurisdictions.23 “The concern was that U.S. citizens might
interest as well as duty of the government, under which they live to ani-
madvert upon them with becoming severity, that the peace of the world
may be maintained. For in vain would nations in their collective capacity
observe these universal rules, if private subjects were at liberty to break
them at their own discretion, and involve the two states in a war. It is
therefore incumbent upon the nation injured, first, to demand satisfaction
and justice to be done on the offender by the state to which he belongs;
and, if that be refused or neglected, the sovereign then avows himself an
accomplice or abettor of his subject’s crime, and draws upon his commu-
nity the calamities of foreign war.” (emphasis added)); see also De Long-
champs, 1 Dall. at 117 (paraphrasing Blackstone, “You then have been
guilty of an atrocious violation of the law of nations; you have grossly
insulted gentlemen, the peculiar objects of this law (gentlemen of amiable
characters, and highly esteemed by the government of this State) in a most
wanton and unprovoked manner: And it is now the interest as well as duty
of the government, to animadvert upon your conduct with a becoming
severity, such a severity as may tend to reform yourself, to deter others
from the commission of the like crime, preserve the honor of the State, and
maintain peace with our great and good Ally, and the whole world.”
(emphasis added)); Vattel, The Law of Nations, bk. II, §§ 343, 347-50;
Letter from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison (May 25, 1784),
reprinted in IV The Works of Thomas Jefferson 365 (Paul Leicester Ford
ed. 1904).
22
John M. Rogers, The Alien Tort Statute and How Individuals “Vio-
late” International Law, 21 Vand. J. Transnat’l L. 47, 47 (1988)
(“Congress meant to grant federal jurisdiction over cases in which an indi-
vidual has committed a tortious act in the United States which, if unre-
dressed, would result in international legal responsibility on the part of the
United States.”).
23
Thomas H. Lee, The Safe-Conduct Theory of the Alien Tort Statute,
106 Colum. L. Rev. 830, 881 (2006) (“[S]uit in domestic court for tort
remedies by an alien against the one who injured his person or property
was mainly a political expedient premised on the host sovereign’s hope
that if the alien received a speedy and fair remedy, the other sovereign
might not be informed of, or act upon, the safe-conduct breach, diminish-
ing the risk that the offended sovereign would exercise its lawful right to
make war.”).
19438 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
engage in incidents that could embroil the young nation in
war and jeopardize its status or welfare in the Westphalian
system. Similarly, foreign violators, if sufficiently linked to
the United States, could create an incident threatening the
United States’s peace.”24
The Alien Tort Statute enables alien plaintiffs to file civil
actions in federal district courts, thereby providing for federal
jurisdiction regardless of whether state courts would entertain
the claims. It does not say that such torts give rise to federal
jurisdiction despite the absence of any American nexus —
that is, when the torts are committed in other countries by and
against aliens. There is no reason why it would say this, since
violations of the law of nations abroad and between foreigners
would have given rise to no risk of “reprisals” against the
United States.
II. The Law of Nations Prohibits Jurisdiction Over
“Foreign-Cubed” Torts.
Murray v. Schooner Charming Betsy held in 1804 that a
statute must be construed if possible to comply with, rather
than violate, the law of nations.25 “An act of Congress ought
never to be construed to violate the law of nations if any other
possible construction remains.”26 So, in that case, a federal
24
Ali Shafi v. Palestinian Auth., 642 F.3d 1088, 1099 (D.C. Cir. 2011)
(Williams, J., concurring); Tel-Oren v. Libyan Arab Republic, 726 F.2d
774, 783 (D.C. Cir. 1984) (Edwards, J., concurring) (“There is evidence
. . . that the intent of [the Alien Tort Statute] was to assure aliens access
to federal courts to vindicate any incident which, if mishandled by a state
court, might blossom into an international crisis.”).
25
Murray v. Schooner Charming Betsy, 6 U.S. (2 Cranch) 64, 118
(1804).
26
Id.; see also Serra v. Lappin, 600 F.3d 1191, 1198 (9th Cir. 2010)
(noting how “the purpose of the Charming Betsy canon is to avoid the
negative ‘foreign policy implications’ of violating the law of nations”
(quoting Weinberger v. Rossi, 456 U.S. 25, 32 (1982))); United States v.
Corey, 232 F.3d 1166, 1179 n.9 (9th Cir. 2000) (highlighting how, under
the doctrine, “[c]ourt[s] interpret[ ] . . . [a] statute so as to avoid embroil-
ing the nation in a foreign policy dispute unforeseen by either the Presi-
dent or Congress”).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19439
law prohibiting commerce with France or its possessions was
held not to apply to a Danish-owned vessel trading with and
in a French possession, despite its literal applicability.27
Because Charming Betsy, like our case, was “foreign-cubed,”
the rule of construction made the statute inapplicable.28
The Charming Betsy canon barred jurisdiction based on the
most fundamental principle of the law of nations: “equality of
sovereignty.”29 Equality of sovereignty requires that every
sovereign is to be treated as the equal of every other in its
entitlement to govern persons within its own territory.30
“Under international law, a state has . . . sovereignty over its
territory,”31 which “implies a state’s lawful control over its
territory generally to the exclusion of other states, authority to
govern in that territory, and authority to apply law there.”32 It
means that Papua New Guinea, not the United States, is enti-
27
Charming Betsy, 6 U.S. (2 Cranch) at 120-21.
28
Id.; Curtis A. Bradley, The Charming Betsy Canon and Separation of
Powers: Rethinking the Interpretive Role of International Law, 86 Geo.
L.J. 479, 489 (1998) (“[C]ourts often invoke the Charming Betsy canon as
a reason for construing ambiguous statutes as not having extraterritorial
effect.”).
29
See Robert H. Jackson, Quasi-States: Sovereignty, International Rela-
tions, and the Third World 6 (1990) (“The grundnorm of such a political
arrangement (sovereign statehood) is the basic prohibition against foreign
intervention which simultaneously imposes a duty of forbearance and con-
fers a right of independence on all statesmen.”).
30
See, e.g., Louis Henkin, International Law: Politics and Values 29
(1995); Developments in the Law — Extraterritoriality, 124 Harv. L. Rev.
1226, 1280 (2011) (“Traditionally, a state may exercise prescriptive juris-
diction over only three types of conduct: conduct that takes place within
its territory, conduct of its nationals, and foreign conduct meant to have
an effect within its territory or directed against its security. Any other
application of a state’s domestic law abroad is considered a violation of
international law; states are supposed to respect each other’s exclusive
authority to regulate behavior within their territorial boundaries.” (cita-
tions omitted)).
31
Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law § 206(a) (1987).
32
Id. at § 404 cmt. b.
19440 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
tled to govern conduct by non-Americans in Papua New
Guinea, just as the United States may govern in the fifty U.S.
states.33 What little authority there is for one world state to
impose a law having effect in another has generally been lim-
ited to circumstances where the conduct affects its own citi-
zens or interests.34
This bedrock principle stems from the settlement of the
Thirty Years’ War by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The
purpose of the principle is to reduce pretexts for wars.35 The
principle of equal sovereignty compels the corollary that one
sovereign cannot exercise authority over conduct within
another sovereign’s territory.36 As Chief Justice Marshall
33
See Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law pt. IV, ch. 1, intro-
ductory note at 235 (1987) (“International law has long recognized limita-
tions on the authority of states to exercise jurisdiction to prescribe in
circumstances affecting the interests of other states.”); Restatement (Sec-
ond) of Foreign Relations Law § 8 (1965) (“Action by a state in prescrib-
ing or enforcing a rule that it does not have jurisdiction to prescribe or
jurisdiction to enforce, is a violation of international law . . . .”).
34
See id. at § 402; cf. U.N. Charter art. 2. para. 7 (“Nothing contained
in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in
matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state
. . . .”); William R. Slomanson, Fundamental Perspectives on Interna-
tional Law § 5.1, at 240 (6th ed. 2011).
35
At the core of Westphalian sovereignty are the twin legal principles
of rex est imperator in regno suo (“the king rules as an emperor in his own
realm”), see Daniel H. Nexon, Discussion: American Empire and Civiliza-
tional Practice, in Civilizational Identity 112 (Martin Hall & Patrick
Thaddeus Jackson eds., 2007), and cuius regio, eius religio (“each king
determines the religion of his realm”), which were the fundamental bases
of international law in the eighteenth century. See James Mayall, World
Politics 14-16 (2000); Kalevi J. Holsti, Peace and War 34-35 (1991).
36
Island of Palmas (Neth. v. U.S.), 2 R.I.A.A. 829, 838 (Perm. Ct. Arb.
1928) (“Sovereignty in the relations between States signifies indepen-
dence. Independence in regard to a portion of the globe is the right to exer-
cise therein, to the exclusion of any other State, the functions of a State.
The development of the national organisation of States during the last few
centuries and, as a corollary, the development of international law, have
established this principle of the exclusive competence of the State in
regard to its own territory . . . .”); cf. also Corfu Channel (U.K. v. Alb.),
1949 I.C.J. 4, 35 (Apr. 9) (“Between independent States, respect for terri-
torial sovereignty is an essential foundation of international relations.”).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19441
wrote in The Antelope: “No principle of general law is more
universally acknowledged, than the perfect equality of nations
. . . . It results from this equality, that no one can rightfully
impose a rule on another. Each legislates for itself, but its leg-
islation can operate on itself alone.”37 The Schooner Exchange
v. McFaddon held that the “full and absolute territorial juris-
diction being alike the attribute of every sovereign, [it is]
incapable of conferring extra-territorial power . . . .”38
Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain reaffirms the vitality of this prin-
ciple by confirming the continuing authority of Vattel’s The
Law of Nations as an authoritative source for determining the
intent of the Alien Tort Statute.39 Vattel is an authority
because the First Congress relied on him.40 Vattel states that
“sovereignty carries with it a right . . . over all property, pub-
lic, common, and private; it is the right of sovereign control
over all parts of the territory belonging to the Nation . . . .
Whatever takes place there is subject to his authority.”41 The
point emphasized repeatedly by jurists and scholars is that, in
the absence of a clear congressional declaration to the con-
trary, federal courts should not “pretend[ ] to be the custos
morum of the whole world.”42
37
The Antelope, 23 U.S. (10 Wheat.) 66, 122 (1825).
38
The Schooner Exch. v. McFaddon, 11 U.S. (7 Cranch) 116, 137
(1812).
39
Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 714-16, 723-24 (2004).
40
See U.S. Steel Corp. v. Multistate Tax Comm’n, 434 U.S. 452, 462
n.12 (1978) (citing 1 J. Kent, Commentaries on American Law 18 (1826))
(“The international jurist most widely cited in the first 50 years after the
Revolution was Emmerich de Vattel.”); see also Restatement (Third) of
Foreign Relations Law, pt. I, ch. 1, reporters’ note at 21 (1987).
41
See, e.g., E. de Vattel, The Law of Nations or the Principles of Natural
Law Applied to the Conduct and to the Affairs of Nations and of Sover-
eigns, bk. I, § 245, at 96 (photo. reprint 1993) (Charles G. Fenwick trans.,
Carnegie Inst. of Wash., 1916) (1758).
42
United States v. the La Jeune Eugenie, 2 Mason 409, 26 F. Cas. 832,
847 (C.C.D. Mass. 1822) (No. 15,551) (Story, J.).
19442 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
Recently, some advocacy groups have found receptiveness
in Europe toward universal jurisdiction over unpopular for-
eign officials accused of war crimes and other offenses
against the law of nations.43 But even such aggressive claims
as the recently-stayed case in Spain against former U.S. exec-
utive officials for alleged war crimes in Guantanamo and Iraq
are criminal prosecutions, not private tort cases.44 These crim-
inal cases depend on decisions by government prosecutors
and their supervisors, who may, unlike private plaintiffs, be
subject to their governments’ judgments about diplomatic
consequences. And despite these aggressive assertions of judi-
cial power, there is no consensus that universal jurisdiction
exists for private civil claims.45 The majority’s assertion of
universal jurisdiction over private claims, unlike executive
branch decisions, can embroil our country in diplomatic and
military disputes entirely unchecked by the elected branches
of our government.
In the United States, the source of this new judicial aggres-
siveness is our sister circuit’s decision in Filartiga v. Pena-
Irala.46 Filartiga held that a Paraguayan permanent resident
43
See, e.g., Guatemala Genocide Case, STC, Sept. 26, 2005 (S.T.C. No.
237/2005, § II) (Spain).
44
See, e.g., Juzgado Central de Instrucción N 6, Audiencia Nacional,
Madrid (Spanish High Court), decision (auto) of 13 April 2011, Prelimi-
nary Investigations (diligencias previas) 134/09-N (Spain), at 1.
45
Compare Arrest Warrant of 11 Apr. 2000, 2002 I.C.J. at 77 (joint sep-
arate opinion of Higgins, Kooijimans, and Buergenthal, JJ.); Jones v.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, [2006] UKHL 26, paras. 20, 22, [2007] 1 A.C.
270, 286-87 (Lord Bingham of Cornhill) (appeal taken from Eng.); Bou-
zari v. Islamic Republic of Iran (2004), 71 O.R.3d 675, paras. 93-94 (Can.
Ont. C.A.) (rejecting a foreign-cubed civil case for torture by Iranian
agents, noting that “[t]he peremptory norm of prohibition against torture
does not encompass the civil remedy contended for by the appellant”),
with Ferrini v. Repubblica Federale di Germania, Cass., sez. un., 11 mar.
2004, n.5044, para. 9 (It.), reprinted in 87 Rivista di Diritto Internazionale
539, 546 (2004); Prefecture of Voiotia v. Federal Republic of Germany,
Areios Pagos [A.P.] [Supreme Court] 11/2000 (Greece).
46
Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, 630 F.2d 876 (2d Cir. 1980).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19443
alien living in the United States could sue another Paraguayan
also living in the United States for torture in Paraguay. The
language in Filartiga most supportive of the majority’s deci-
sion in the case at bar is this assertion of a broad principle: “It
is not extraordinary for a court to adjudicate a tort claim aris-
ing outside of its territorial jurisdiction.”47 Filartiga, unlike
our majority, immediately qualifies this broad principle in the
next sentence: “A state or nation has a legitimate interest in
the orderly resolution of disputes among those within its bor-
ders . . . ,”48 as plaintiff and defendant were in that case. Filar-
tiga further qualifies its decision by giving effect to
Paraguayan law.
Filartiga, though, does invite the broader reading our
majority gives it, by quoting (out of context) as its chief
authority for such universal jurisdiction two sentences from
Mostyn v. Fabrigas49 in 1774, saying that actions may be
brought in England “though the matter arises beyond the
seas.” The Second Circuit overlooked the rest of Mostyn. The
case arose in Minorca, one of the Balearic Islands in the Med-
iterranean, which had become a British possession in 1713.
Mostyn sued the Governor General of Minorca, a British offi-
cial, for wrongfully beating and falsely imprisoning him. Cen-
tral to Mostyn’s reasoning was that Minorca was ceded to the
Crown of Great Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht.50 The case
turned on whether the governor general had abused “the
authority delegated to him by the King’s letters patent.”51
Lord Mansfield wrote that “the Privy Council determines all
cases that arise in “the plantations [such as the American col-
onies], in Gibralter, or Minorca, in Jersey, or Guernsey.”52
47
Id. at 885.
48
Id.
49
Mostyn v. Fabrigas, 98 Eng. Rep. 1021, 1027, 1 Cowp. 161 (K.B.
1774) (on appeal from Court of Common Pleas) (Lord Mansfield).
50
Id. at 1022.
51
Id. at 1028.
52
Id.
19444 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
Thus, the case was not foreign-cubed at all. It was not a case
arising offshore, but within the British Empire against a
British official.53 Slater v. Mexican National Railroad Co.
cites Mostyn in holding that a Texan may sue for an injury in
Mexico by a Colorado company.54 There is nothing foreign-
cubed about Mostyn or Slater. Congress has subsequently
expressly conferred universal jurisdiction on American courts
for torture abroad,55 vitiating any question about whether the
Filartiga result stands, but Congress has not conferred univer-
sal jurisdiction for the torts to which our majority applies it.56
Judges of the International Court of Justice,57 British law
lords, and jurists around the world have lamented the aggres-
sive claims to rule the world by courts claiming universal
jurisdiction. “It is not for a national court to ‘develop’ interna-
tional law by unilaterally adopting a version of that law
which, however desirable, forward-looking and reflective of
values it may be, is simply not accepted by other states.”58
53
Id. at 1030.
54
194 U.S. 120, 126-27 (1904).
55
See Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, Pub. L. No. 102-256, 106
Stat. 73 (1992) (codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1350 note).
56
I recognize that the reasoning of Filartiga has recently been followed,
I think mistakenly, by the majority in Doe v. Exxon Mobil Corp., No. 09-
7125, ___ F.3d ___, 2011 WL 2652384 (D.C. Cir. July 8, 2011), and by
the Seventh Circuit in Flomo v. Firestone Natural Rubber Co., LLC, 643
F.3d 1013 (7th Cir. 2011). Although I disagree with such reasoning, both
decisions provide inadequate support for the plaintiffs in this case, because
neither was foreign-cubed.
57
Arrest Warrant of 11 Apr. 2000 (Dem. Rep. Congo v. Belg.), 2002
I.C.J. 3, 77 (Feb. 14) (joint separate opinion of Higgins, Kooijimans, and
Buergenthal, JJ.) (“Under the Alien Tort [Statute], the United States . . .
has asserted a jurisdiction both over human rights violations and over
major violations of international law, perpetrated by non-nationals over-
seas. . . . While this unilateral exercise of the function of guardian of inter-
national values has been much commented on, it has not attracted the
approbation of States generally.” (emphasis added)).
58
Jones v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, [2006] UKHL 26, para. 63, [2007]
1 A.C. 270, 298 (Lord Hoffman) (appeal taken from Eng.).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19445
Though Filartiga and its recent companions claim to embrace
international law, they defy its most fundamental principle,
equality of sovereignty. Imposition of putative international
norms in foreign-cubed cases by American courts is “contrary
to customary international law.”59 American judges purporting
to implement customary international law have not addressed
these criticisms from judges in other countries.
Congress has never given us “a clear mandate” for the
wrongs alleged in the complaint before us.60 Sosa did not open
the door to our unconsented entry. The Court suggested that
there may be some international norms that violate the law of
nations in addition to piracy, safe conducts, and assaults
against ambassadors, but warned courts to be cautious in cre-
ating new claims.61 Filartiga argues for jurisdiction over tor-
ture in a foreign state partly on the grounds that torture
violates Paraguayan law, and mistakenly analogizes torturers
to pirates.62 But the plaintiffs here do not plead that Rio Tinto
violated Papua New Guinean law. We have absolutely no
indication in the record or in the majority decision of how the
sovereign state of Papua New Guinea interprets its laws as
applied to Rio Tinto’s activities. We do not even have a clear
decision on who is the sovereign authority in the relevant
area, since that is a delicate matter between the government
of Papua New Guinea and the newly autonomous government
of Bougainville.
The Second Circuit now acknowledges that “the class of
crimes subject to universal jurisdiction traditionally included
59
Id. at paras. 58, 99 (echoing the criticism of Judges Higgins, Kooiji-
mans, and Buergenthal of the International Court of Justice by characteriz-
ing Filartiga as “a unilateral extension of jurisdiction by the United
States”).
60
Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 728 (2004).
61
Id. at 730.
62
Filartiga v. Pena-Irala, 630 F.2d 876, 890 (2d Cir. 1980).
19446 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
only piracy.”63 The only wrong the First Congress could have
possibly contemplated as providing for universal jurisdiction
would have been piracy.64 But imaginative speculation about
how legislators in 1789 may have felt about piracy cannot
expand the Alien Tort Statute’s reach to entirely foreign dis-
putes that bear no relation whatsoever to piracy.65 Twenty-
first-century preferences regarding universal jurisdiction and
war crimes do not shed light on the congressional intent
underlying an eighteenth-century statute.66
63
United States v. Yousef, 327 F.3d 56, 104 (2d Cir. 2003).
64
United States v. Layton, 509 F. Supp. 212, 223 (N.D. Cal. 1981)
(“[Universal] jurisdiction had its origins in the special problems and char-
acteristics of piracy. It is only in recent time that nations have begun to
extend this type of jurisdiction to other crimes.”); compare Restatement
(Second) of Foreign Relations Law § 404 (1965) (including piracy as the
only universally cognizable offense), with Restatement (Third) of Foreign
Relations Law § 404 (1987) (listing several other offenses, such as war
crimes, the slave trade, and apartheid, as “universal”); see also R v. Bow
St. Metro. Stipendiary Magistrate, ex parte Pinochet Ugarte (No. 3),
[2000] 1 A.C. 147 (H.L.) (appeal taken from Q.B. Div’l Ct.) (U.K.),
reprinted in 38 I.L.M. 581 (1999) (holding that it was the United King-
dom’s ratification of the Convention Against Torture in 1988 that allowed
for the acts of torture committed under Pinochet to be extraditable
offenses, and not necessarily a jus cogens peremptory norm before the
date of the convention’s ratification).
65
Bauman v. DaimlerChrysler Corp., 644 F.3d 909 (9th Cir. 2011),
takes this mistaken course by conflating the intentions of the First Con-
gress’s drafting of the Alien Tort Statute in 1789 with that of the 102nd
Congress in 1992, codifying Filartiga’s result in the Torture Victim Pro-
tection Act of 1991. Contra United States v. Price, 361 U.S. 304, 313
(1960) (“[T]he views of a subsequent Congress form a hazardous basis for
inferring the intent of an earlier one.”).
66
See Minor v. Mechanics Bank of Alexandria, 26 U.S. (1 Pet.) 46, 64
(1828) (“But no general rule can be laid down upon this subject, further
than that that exposition ought to be adopted in this, as in other cases,
which carries into effect the true intent and object of the legislature in the
enactment.” (emphasis added)); see also John O. McGinnis, Foreign to
Our Constitution, 100 Nw. U. L. Rev. 303, 307 n.22 (2006) (“[D]efenders
of the use of contemporary international law want to use evolving stan-
dards of an international law that has grown in scope to become a kind of
local municipal law and changed in nature from natural to positive law.
In this respect, modern international law does not resemble the law of
nations known to the Framers.”).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19447
III. Absence of Affirmative Intent Clearly Expressed.
Sosa adds another reason why courts must be especially
restrained in expanding the meaning of the “law of nations”:
the political nature of the concerns raised. Sosa holds that
there is a “high bar to new private causes of action for violat-
ing international law, for the potential implications for the for-
eign relations of the United States of recognizing such causes
should make courts particularly wary of impinging on the dis-
cretion of the Legislative and Executive Branches in manag-
ing foreign affairs.”67 Therefore, courts are required to be
especially careful to not disregard the principle of equal sov-
ereignty when interpreting statutes.68
Because of the delicacy of potential disruption of foreign
relations, the rule is that a statute may be given extraterritorial
effect only if Congress provides “clear expression” of an “af-
firmative intent.” “For us to run interference in such a delicate
field of international relations there must be present the affir-
mative intention of the Congress clearly expressed. It alone
has the facilities necessary to make fairly such an important
policy decision where the possibilities of international discord
are so evident . . . .”69
Of course, as with most principles, there are exceptions.
The new heights of inhumanity achieved by Germany from
1933 to 1945 compelled a new look at the Westphalian princi-
ple.70 The law of nations, as currently understood, does indeed
67
Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 727 (2004).
68
See Benz v. Compania Naviera Hidalgo, S.A., 353 U.S. 138, 146-47
(1957). In fact, the very hint of a federal court exercising universal juris-
diction in the early nineteenth century complicated our nation’s diplomacy
with France. See United States v. the La Jeune Eugenie, 2 Mason 409, 26
F. Cas. 832, 840-41 (C.C.D. Mass. 1822) (No. 15,551) (Story, J.).
69
Benz, 353 U.S. at 147.
70
Arguably, though, the Nuremberg trials were consistent with equality
of sovereignty, because, having destroyed the German government and
replaced it with government by the Allies, the Allies were sovereign in
Germany after the war.
19448 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
allow interference with another nation’s sovereignty to pre-
vent certain wrongs, such as genocide and slavery.71 Even for
genocide and slavery, the decision whether to afford remedies
rests with the executive and legislative branches. Our govern-
ment may, consistently with the law of nations, remedy such
violations, but that does not imply equal authority in the
courts, in the absence of clear expression by the political
branches to confer that authority. Sometimes the political
organs of government make political decisions to do nothing,
as with genocide in Rwanda and slavery in the Sudan in
recent years. The bedrock principle of equality of sovereignty
is not an absolute prohibition on government violation of
another country’s sovereignty, but it does impose a strong
presumption against inferring judicial authority from a statute
not clearly expressing an intent to confer it. The Court has
characterized this presumption against extraterritoriality as
“[t]he presumption that United States law governs domesti-
cally but does not rule the world . . . .”72
That the law of nations may be violated is necessary but not
sufficient for jurisdiction. Even assuming that the presump-
tion against extraterritoriality is rebuttable and that the com-
plaint sufficiently pleads violations of the law of nations by
Rio Tinto, we still lack the clear expression of an affirmative
intent by Congress sufficient to enable the judiciary to act in
violation of the principle of equal sovereignty. “Federal courts
are courts of limited jurisdiction. They possess only that
power authorized by Constitution and statute, which is not to
be expanded by judicial decree.”73 Consequently, even if the
law of nations, the General Assembly of the United Nations,
and the United Nations Security Council were to authorize
71
See Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law § 404 (1987).
72
Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp., 550 U.S. 437, 454 (2007).
73
Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 377 (1994);
See, e.g., Empire Healthchoice Assurance, Inc. v. McVeigh, 547 U.S. 677,
696 (2006).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19449
“all necessary measures”74 against Papua New Guinea and Rio
Tinto for depredations in Bougainville (which they have not),
a federal court would still need a congressional grant of juris-
diction under Article III to join the crusade. That grant of
jurisdiction is lacking in this case, because the Alien Tort
Statute does not clearly express an intent that it should be
applied within the territory of another sovereign nation where
there is no American connection.
Morrison reaffirms the long-standing canon of construction
against implied extraterritoriality: “When a statute gives no
clear indication of an extraterritorial application, it has none.”75
Since the Alien Tort Statute gives no such “clear indication,”
it has no application to “foreign-cubed” cases such as this
one. The statute does not say or imply “wherever such viola-
tion may occur.” The authority of American courts does not
generally extend to all heinous wrongs committed by anyone,
against anyone, anywhere in the world. That is so even if the
wrongs are so heinous that no civilized person could think
them tolerable, and even if the wrongs violated the law of
nations and could justify a legislative and executive decision
to remedy them.
Ambiguous statutory language is not enough to get around
Morrison’s “bright line rule”76 and the Charming Betsy canon
74
S.C. Res. 1973, ¶ 4, U.N. SCOR, 66th Year, U.N. Doc. S/RES/1973,
at 3 (Mar. 17, 2011).
75
Morrison v. Nat’l Austl. Bank Ltd., 130 S. Ct. 2869, 2878 (2010); see
Smith v. United States, 507 U.S. 197, 203-04 (1993); Sale v. Haitian Ctrs.
Council, Inc., 509 U.S. 155, 173-74 (1993); Astoria Fed. Sav. & Loan
Ass’n v. Solimino, 501 U.S. 104, 109 (1991); EEOC v. Arabian Am. Oil
Co., 499 U.S. 244, 248 (1991); McCulloch v. Sociedad Nacional de
Marineros de Honduras, 372 U.S. 10, 21-22 (1963); Benz v. Compania
Naviera Hidalgo, S.A., 353 U.S. 138, 146-47 (1957); United States v. Spe-
lar, 338 U.S. 217, 222 (1949); Foley Bros., Inc. v. Filardo, 336 U.S. 281,
285 (1949); United States v. Bowman, 260 U.S. 94, 97-98 (1922).
76
Norex Petroleum Ltd. v. Access Indus., Inc., 631 F.3d 29, 32 (2d Cir.
2010) (per curiam).
19450 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
of construction. F. Hoffman-LaRoche Ltd. v. Empagran S.A.77
holds that federal courts should “ordinarily construe[ ] ambig-
uous statutes to avoid unreasonable interference with the sov-
ereign authority of other nations.”78 In Hoffman-LaRoche, the
statute could be read to apply in favor of class-action plain-
tiffs alleging anticompetitive conduct by foreign companies
affecting foreign purchasers. But the Court held that it could
not be read to apply extraterritorially.79 Likewise, even though
the Alien Tort Statute does not expressly prohibit application
to foreign-cubed wrongs, we may not apply it “to foreign con-
duct insofar as that conduct causes independent foreign harm
and that foreign harm alone gives rise to the plaintiff’s claim
. . . .”80 The majority acts contrary to Sosa, Morrison, and
Hoffman-LaRoche.
We can see from other statutes what “clear indication[s]”
of extraterritorial application look like. The Torture Victim
Protection Act of 1991 gives the district courts jurisdiction
over aliens’ claims for torture and extrajudicial killing. The
clearly expressed intent that it apply extraterritorially is its
requirement of exhaustion of remedies “in the place in which
the conduct giving rise to the claim occurred.”81 This is “a
clear mandate . . . providing authority that ‘establish[es] an
unambiguous and modern basis for’ federal claims of torture
and extrajudicial killing.”82 Sosa goes out of its way to reject
77
F. Hoffman-LaRoche Ltd. v. Empagran S.A., 542 U.S. 155, 164
(2004).
78
Id.; see also ARC Ecology v. U.S. Dep’t of Air Force, 411 F.3d 1092,
1102-03 (9th Cir. 2005) (“[A]ccepting the appellants’ broad interpretation
of the statute would be the equivalent of forcing the United States to
encroach on the territory and affairs of another sovereign.”).
79
F. Hoffman-LaRoche, 542 U.S. at 174.
80
Id. at 165.
81
Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, Pub. L. No. 102-256, 106 Stat.
73 (1992) (codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1350 note).
82
Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 728 (2004) (quoting H.R.
Rep. No. 102-367, pt. 1, p.3 (1991)).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19451
any general implication that “other norms that already exist or
may ripen in the future into rules of customary international
law” provide a basis for jurisdiction over lawsuits: “Congress
as a body has done nothing to promote such suits.”83
Likewise, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prohibits for-
eign companies listed on an American stock exchange from
“corruptly do[ing] any act outside the United States” in fur-
therance of foreign bribery.84 The language “outside the
United States” plainly and expressly provides for extraterrito-
rial application. No such language suggesting extraterritorial
application was included in the Alien Tort Statute. Congress
has from time to time amended the Alien Tort Statute, but has
refrained from adding any expression of an intent that it apply
extraterritoriality.85
The majority infers a “clear indication” of applicability
inside the territory of foreign countries from (1) jurisdiction
over claims by non-citizens, (2) reference to the law of
nations, which sounds international, and (3) applicability to pira-
cy.86 None of these support the inference. The first merely
addresses claims arising from conduct within American terri-
tory, such as the assault by a French citizen against a French
consul in Philadelphia in the Marbois affair. The second refers
to the source of law, “the law of nations,” not the location of
the wrong. The third, piracy, is addressed below. There is no
superfluity in granting a federal remedy for torts within the
83
Id. In this respect, I disagree with the majority and its reliance on Doe
v. Exxon Mobil Corp., No. 09-7125, slip op., ___ F.3d ___, 2011 WL
2652384 (D.C. Cir. July 8, 2011). The defendant in that case was an
American corporation. It was not a foreign-cubed case, as this one is.
84
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, 15 U.S.C. § 78dd-2.
85
See Act of Mar. 3, 1911, ch. 231, § 24, 36 Stat. 1087, 1093 (1911);
Rev. Stat. § 563 (1874).
86
Maj. op. at 19335-36.
19452 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
United States that state courts and federal courts might other-
wise be unable to address.87
The advisory opinion by Attorney General William Brad-
ford cited by Judge McKeown does not support a contrary
view. Attorney General Bradford’s opinion related to the Jay
Treaty, so it concerned the Alien Tort Statute’s treaty provi-
sion, not, as in this case, the “law of nations.” And it spoke
to Americans’ actions abroad, not foreign-cubed cases such as
this. The treaty required punishment of American citizens act-
ing on commission from enemies of Great Britain (France)
against British subjects.88 Had federal courts denied alien
plaintiffs a venue for the actions committed in violation of the
law of nations by Americans abroad, the denial would have
resulted in “denial of justice” justifying reprisals, which was
what the First Congress intended to avoid.89 Attorney General
Bradford’s opinion does not support federal jurisdiction under
the Alien Tort Statute for foreign-cubed cases.90
To give a “clear indication” of extraterritorial application,
the statute would have to address where the tort was commit-
ted. It merely addresses what may constitute the tort, and
gives no indication, let alone a clear expression of one, that
the federal courts were to wield their swords in foreign coun-
tries for wrongs having nothing to do with our new country.
Morrison implicitly rejects the Second Circuit’s “disregard of
the presumption against extraterritoriality” and the misguided
belief that it is “left to the court[s] to ‘discern’ whether Con-
87
Flomo v. Firestone Natural Rubber Co., LLC, 643 F.3d 1013, 1019
(7th Cir. 2011), errs in this respect.
88
Compare Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation, U.S.-Gr. Brit.,
arts. 21-22, 8 Stat. 116 (“Jay Treaty”) (ratified on June 24, 1795), with 1
Op. Att’y Gen. 57, 58-59 (July 6, 1795).
89
See Jay Treaty, 8 Stat. 116, art 22; Thomas H. Lee, The Safe-Conduct
Theory of the Alien Tort Statute, 106 Colum. L. Rev. 830, 881 n.265
(2006).
90
See Lee, The Safe-Conduct Theory, 106 Colum. L. Rev. at 881.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19453
gress would have wanted the statute to apply” if a statute “is
silent as to . . . extraterritorial application.”91
IV. Piracy.
I have assumed for purposes of discussion that the com-
plaint alleges violations of the law of nations, but do not mean
to suggest that it really does. The Court held in Sosa v.
Alvarez-Machain that “federal courts should not recognize
private claims under federal common law [in the context of
the Alien Tort Statute] for violations of any international law
norm with less definite content and acceptance among civi-
lized nations than the historical paradigms familiar when [the
Alien Tort Statute] was enacted.”92 The Court delineated this
“narrow set of violations”93 as “Blackstone’s three primary
offenses: violation of safe conducts, infringement of the rights
of ambassadors, and piracy.”94 Nothing like these three torts
is pleaded. The Court left open the possibility of stepping out
of this “narrow set,”95 but cautioned that “[s]ince many
attempts by federal courts to craft remedies for the violation
of new norms of international law would raise risks of adverse
foreign policy consequences, they should be undertaken, if at
all, with great caution.”96 The required “great caution” is
absent from the majority’s invitation to class action tourists
seeking to litigate entirely foreign wrongs.97
91
Morrison v. Nat’l Austl. Bank Ltd., 130 S. Ct. 2869, 2877-78 (2010).
92
Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 732 (2004).
93
Id. at 715.
94
Id. at 724-25.
95
Id. at 715; see also id. at 762 (Breyer, J., concurring).
96
Id. at 727-28.
97
Cf. Ali Shafi v. Palestinian Auth., 642 F.3d 1088, 1094 (D.C. Cir.
2011) (“[T]he proposition advanced by the appellants before us could
open the doors of the federal courts to claims against nonstate actors any-
where in the world alleged to have cruelly treated any alien. To recognize
such a sweeping claim would hardly be consistent with the standards of
caution mandated by the Sosa Court.”).
19454 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
One of the three violations of the law of nations laid down
by Blackstone, as noted in Sosa, was piracy.98 This is an extra-
territorial wrong cognizable under the Alien Tort Statute.
Sosa holds that Congress meant to include piracy in the stat-
ute because piracy gave rise to actionable private claims for
violation of the law of nations in the eighteenth century.99
That does not support an inference that other heinous conduct
was included.
There are two kinds of extraterritoriality: conduct outside
the territory of any state, and conduct outside our territory but
within the territory of another state. Piracy, by definition, falls
within the first, not the second, kind of extraterritoriality. It
occurs outside the territory of any state, so any state can grant
a remedy without impinging on the sovereignty of another
state. Though some wrongs are as abhorrent as piracy, and
some are considerably worse, that does not imply that wrongs
as bad as or worse than piracy may be remedied when they
occur in a foreign state. “[U]niversal jurisdiction is accepted
in cases of piracy because piracy is carried out on the high
seas, outside all State territory” so it is traditionally the “one
case of universal jurisdiction.”100 The extraterritoriality of the
wrong is why universal jurisdiction has always applied to pira-
cy,101 and why it is a sui generis exception to the presumption
against extraterritoriality.102
98
Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 715 (2004) (citing William
Blackstone, 4 Commentaries *68).
99
Id. at 719.
100
Arrest Warrant of 11 Apr. 2000 (Dem. Rep. Congo v. Belg.), 2002
I.C.J. 3, 37-38 (Feb. 14) (separate opinion of Pres. Guillaume).
101
See United States v. Shi, 525 F.3d 709, 722-23 (9th Cir. 2008).
102
S.S. Lotus (Fr. v. Turk.), 1927 P.C.I.J. (ser. A) No. 10, at 70 (Sept.
7) (Moore, J., dissenting) (“Piracy by law of nations, in its jurisdictional
aspects, is sui generis. Though statutes may provide for its punishment, it
is an offence against the law of nations; and as the scene of the pirate’s
operations is the high seas, which it is not the right or duty of any nation
to police, he is denied the protection of the flag which he may carry
. . . .”).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19455
Piracy was not, when the Alien Tort Statute was promul-
gated, and is not now, considered morally heinous beyond
other crimes. It consists of robbery, kidnapping, murder, and
related felonies committed on the high seas.103 Blackstone said
that piracy consists of “those acts of robbery and depredation
upon the high seas which, if committed upon land, would
have amounted to felony there.”104 “[P]irates have always
been compared to robbers. The only difference between them
is, that the sea is the theatre of action for the one, and the land
for the other.”105 Piracy’s defining characteristic is not its hei-
nousness, but that it occurs outside any nation’s sovereign terri-
tory.106 All states have concurrent jurisdiction over piracy on
the high seas, and no state has sovereignty over the high seas,
so any state may act against pirates without violating the sov-
ereignty of any other.107
The First Congress defined piracy in 1790, a year after pro-
mulgating the Alien Tort Statute, as “murder or robbery, or
any other offence, which, if committed within the body of a
county, would, by the laws of the United States, be punishable
with death” as long as it was committed “upon the high seas,
103
United States v. Smith, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) 153, 176 (1820) (quoting
William Blackstone, 4 Commentaries *71, 73).
104
William Blackstone, 4 Commentaries *72; see also 2 M.D.A. Azuni,
The Maritime Law of Europe, ch. V, § 3, at 351 (William Johnson trans.,
Isaac Riley & Co., 1806) (1795).
105
Smith, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) at 163 n.h.
106
Arrest Warrant of 11 Apr. 2000 (Dem. Rep. Congo v. Belg.), 2002
I.C.J. 3, 56 (Feb. 14) (declaration of Ranjeva, J.) (“[S]ince piracy by defi-
nition involves the pirates’ denial and evasion of the jurisdiction of any
State system, the exercise of universal jurisdiction enables the legal order
to be re-established. . . . [T]he conferring of universal jurisdiction on
national courts to try pirates and acts of piracy is explained by the harm
done to the international system of State jurisdiction. The inherent serious-
ness of the offence has, however, not been deemed sufficient per se to
establish universal jurisdiction.”).
107
Smith, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) at 176; R v. Dawson, 8 William III, 1696,
13 How. St. Tr. 451, 455.
19456 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
or in any river, haven, basin or bay, out of the jurisdiction of
any particular state.”108 The phrase “out of the jurisdiction of
any state” is the critical element of the crime for purposes of
extraterritorial applicability. The current version of this statute
likewise criminalizes “piracy, as defined by the law of
nations” when committed “on the high seas.”109
That the location, and not the heinousness, is what justifies
universal jurisdiction should be obvious even without knowl-
edge of the traditional understanding that “piracy was listed
as the only universally cognizable offense.”110 If a gang of
Somalis takes control of a ship on the high seas, holding the
ship, its crew, and its passengers for ransom, forcibly taking
the passengers’ property and killing its captain, they have
committed piracy and federal courts in the United States may
exercise criminal and civil jurisdiction.111 Now suppose the
very same Somali gang assembles in Rotterdam, takes over a
Dutch factory, kills the factory manager, and holds the Dutch
factory workers for ransom and takes their property. The law
of nations provides for universal jurisdiction over the gang
when they act on the high seas, but not when they act in Rot-
terdam. Despite committing the same crimes as when they
were pirates on the high seas, the gang cannot be prosecuted
in the United States for their crimes in Rotterdam. To do so
would itself be an American violation of the law of nations,
because our prosecution (which might include capital punish-
ment, abhorred by the Dutch) would impinge on Dutch sover-
eignty.112 “The courts of no country execute the penal laws of
another.”113
108
1 Stat. 113, ch. 9, § 8 (1790).
109
18 U.S.C. § 1651.
110
Eugene Kontorovich, The Piracy Analogy: Modern Universal Juris-
diction’s Hollow Foundation, 45 Harv. Int’l L.J. 183, 184 n.8 (2004).
111
See United States v. Shi, 525 F.3d 709 (9th Cir. 2008).
112
See Arrest Warrant of 11 Apr. 2000 (Dem. Rep. Congo v. Belg.),
2002 I.C.J. 3, 43-44 (Feb. 14) (separate opinion of Pres. Guillaume).
113
The Antelope, 23 U.S. (10 Wheat.) 66, 123 (1825).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19457
V. Injudicious Imperialism.
Our decision makes the Ninth Circuit the best place in the
world to bring class actions against deep-pocket private
defendants to recover compensatory and punitive damages
and attorneys’ fees for the evils so prevalent all over the
world. This claim of supervisory authority over the entire
planet is unwise as well as legally incorrect.
First, as has already been addressed, our decision has no
support in the law of nations. On the contrary, our decision
undermines it. Even the Second Circuit would dismiss this
case.114 When the District of Columbia Circuit faced some of
the same questions for foreign-cubed human rights claims in
Tel–Oren v. Libyan Arab Republic115 and Ali Shafi v. Palestin-
ian Authority,116 all three judges on each panel agreed that the
suit was properly dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, albeit on
differing grounds. The fractured opinions when circuit courts,
ours and others, address extraterritorial jurisdiction under the
Alien Tort Statute are themselves strong evidence of the
absence of any established body of useful precedent.117 No
other circuit has opened the door so wide as we now do for
114
Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 621 F.3d 111, 120 (2d Cir.
2010).
115
Tel-Oren v. Libyan Arab Republic, 726 F.2d 774 (D.C. Cir. 1984).
116
Ali Shafi v. Palestinian Auth., 642 F.3d 1088 (D.C. Cir. 2011)
117
Compare id. at 1092 (“In short, the Tel-Oren court . . . provided sup-
port for the proposition that torture claims against nonstate actors were not
within the jurisdictional grant of the A[lien ]T[ort ]S[tatute]. . . . The rele-
vant events between 1984 and today not only do not change our decision
from the one entered in Tel-Oren, but support a continuation of that prece-
dent.”), with Doe v. Exxon Mobil Corp., No. 09-7125, slip op. at 12-29,
___ F.3d ,___ 2011 WL 2652384, at *5-11 (D.C. Cir. July 8, 2011)
(applying the Alien Tort Statute to nonstate actors for torture committed
in Indonesia). The majority and Judge McKeown’s reliance on Doe, Maj.
op. at 19335, McKeown op. at 19399-19402, should be tempered by the
fact that the defendant in that case, unlike the defendant in this case, was
an American corporation.
19458 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
private tort actions for wrongs by foreigners, to foreigners, in
foreign lands. Our course is contrary to the “vigilant
doorkeeping” that Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain requires.118 We
may use forum non conveniens in the future to limit the harm,119
but we have no authority to exercise jurisdiction at all.
Second, the majority confuses what the United States may
properly do under customary international law with what the
First Congress gave American courts jurisdiction to do. The
United States may, in accord with contemporary views of
international law, act in other states’ sovereign territory
against many human rights violations, such as genocide.120
Congress may have authority to confer universal jurisdiction
over some foreign-cubed human-rights violations, and has
done so with respect to torture.121 It is careless error, though,
to infer that anything the elected branches may do, a court has
jurisdiction to do. Whether Congress may, consistently with
the law of nations, grant universal jurisdiction to a federal
court is a different question from whether it has done so. The
majority misses that distinction.122 In foreign affairs, the error
is not only careless but dangerous.
118
Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 729 (2004).
119
Loya v. Starwood Hotels, 583 F.3d 656, 665-66 (2009) (affirming
dismissal for forum non conveniens against an American plaintiff suing an
American defendant); cf. Bil’in (Vill. Council) v. Green Park Int’l Ltd.,
2009 QCCS 4151 (Can. Qué. Sup. Ct.), para. 335, aff’d, 2010 QCCA 1455
(Can. Qué. C.A.) (dismissing a suit brought by residents of a village in the
West Bank against a Canadian company constructing buildings there on
forum non conveniens grounds because “the Plaintiffs have selected a
forum having little connection with the Action in order to inappropriately
gain a judicial advantage over the Defendants and where the relevant con-
necting factors, considered as a whole, clearly point to the [Israeli High
Court of Justice] as the logical forum and the authority in a better position
to decide”).
120
Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law § 702 (1987).
121
See Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, Pub. L. No. 102-256, 106
Stat. 73 (1992) (codified at 28 U.S.C. § 1350 note); Restatement (Third)
§ 404.
122
See Morrison v. Nat’l Austl. Bank Ltd., 130 S. Ct. 2869, 2885-86
(2010).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19459
The Constitution gives the power to “define and punish”
violations of the law of nations, and the power to define the
jurisdiction of federal courts, to Congress.123 That the United
States government may properly act to stop genocide in a for-
eign country does not imply that a federal district court may
enjoin foreign genocide and then send in the marshals to
enforce the injunction by force, or award damages. Yet the
complaint asks us to issue an injunction regulating environ-
mental remediation in Papua New Guinea, and to award dam-
ages for claimed human-rights violations there, regardless of
what the governments of Papua New Guinea or the United
States would find appropriate.
Exercise of jurisdiction over alleged wrongs committed by
foreigners against foreigners in a foreign country dangerously
interferes with decisions properly made only by the political
branches of our government. Such claims are properly classed
as raising nonjusticiable political questions. United States v.
Palmer holds that questions regarding the rights of a part of
a foreign state seeking its independence are “delicate and dif-
ficult” and “such questions are generally rather political than
legal in their character.”124 In the case before us, the claims
arise out of a civil war in which Bougainville sought to secede
from Papua New Guinea. Palmer held that such questions as
are before us belong more properly to those “who can place
the nation in such a position with respect to foreign powers
as to their own judgment shall appear wise; to whom are
entrusted all its foreign relations; than to a tribunal whose
power as well as duty is confined to the application of the rule
which the legislature may prescribe for it.”125
The political branches may choose to take no action against
terrible evils to preserve essential alliances, as they did with
123
U.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cls. 9, 10.
124
United States v. Palmer, 16 U.S. (3 Wheat.) 610, 634 (1818) (Mar-
shall, C.J.).
125
Id.
19460 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
respect to the Soviet Union during World War II; to avoid
entanglements that would cost blood and money despite the
justice of the cause, as with the Rwandan genocide; to avoid
giving offense to regimes whose votes are useful to us in the
United Nations or whose disinvestment in treasury securities
would damage our economy; and to avoid ejection of our mil-
itary bases from foreign territory if we characterized their his-
tory in an offensive manner, as with the Armenian genocide
by Turkey. These political decisions are not pretty, but they
are an integral part of the management of foreign affairs, and
this task is for good reasons not assigned to the judiciary.
Third, judicial decisions on entirely foreign matters are
likely to be mistaken because of the inadequate reliability of
factual determinations. American courts decide cases by
applying general legal principles to highly particularized his-
torical facts.126 A just decision requires a reasonably high
degree of accuracy in the factual determination. Papua New
Guineans speak hundreds of languages, which few federal
judges or certified translators in America are likely to know.
Conduct there occurs in what is for us an extremely exotic
context. Things that every Papua New Guinean knows are
unknown to us, and we are likely to be excessively dependent
on what one or a few anthropologists tell us. Nor are we likely
to understand the Papua New Guinean factual, historical, and
legal context, a necessity if we are to judge the right and
wrong of conduct that occurred there. The incapacity of
American courts to ascertain facts about what foreigners did
to foreigners in a foreign land, combined with the amorphous-
ness of the general principles of law to be applied, can only
lead to unreliable, unpredictable, and unjust results.
And suppose the district court were to award judgment for
a huge sum from Rio Tinto for distribution to the several
Papua New Guinean classes designated in the complaint.
126
See Kenneth Culp Davis, Facts in Lawmaking, 80 Colum. L. Rev.
931 938-42 (1980).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19461
After we assign part of it to counsel as attorneys’ fees, how
shall the district court effectively and justly supervise distri-
bution to the proper Papua New Guineans in proper amounts?
Justice requires accuracy and fairness in dividing up the win-
nings, not just assigning the blame and imposing the losses.
These foreign-cubed cases may generate publicity and settle-
ments,127 but the logistics of an actual trial and management
of remedies in a federal district court are impracticable and
not subject to just application.
Fourth, once we release the genie of universal jurisdiction
from the bottle, we cannot control for whom the genie works
its magic. Other countries with different values are likely to
use universal jurisdiction against us. There could be a class
action, perhaps in Papua New Guinea, brought by a Cherokee
against descendants of those who obtained Cherokee land
when President Jackson’s administration forced their ances-
tors to leave their homes for the West. A foreign court could
entertain a class action on behalf of African-Americans
against American banks whose corporate ancestors profited
from interest on loans for the purchase of American slaves.
The law of nations provides no statute of limitations for uni-
versal offenses, so these class actions might well be cogniza-
ble in foreign courts.128 Why should descendants of those who
have suffered great wrongs in America limit themselves to
largely unavailable American remedies when foreign courts
may be more advantageous?
Universal jurisdiction has already been asserted, by Iran,
for blasphemy. Here is the 1989 edict by the Ayatollah of Iran
against Salman Rushdie:
127
See, e.g., Doe I v. Unocal Corp., 395 F.3d 932 (9th Cir. 2002), reh’g
en banc granted, 395 F.3d 978 (9th Cir. 2003), dismissed, 403 F.3d 708
(9th Cir. 2005).
128
See Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law § 404 cmt. a
(1987) (“A universal offense is generally not subject to limitations of
time.”).
19462 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
I inform all zealous Muslims of the world that the
author of the book entitled The Satanic Verses—
which has been compiled, printed, and published in
opposition to Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran—
and all those involved in the publication who were
aware of its contents are sentenced to death.
I call upon all zealous Muslims to execute them
quickly, wherever they may be found, so that no one
else will dare to insult the Muslim sanctities. God
willing, whoever is killed on this path is a martyr.
In addition, anyone who has access to the author
of this book but does not possess the power to exe-
cute him should report him to the people so that he
may be punished for his actions.129
Rushdie’s blasphemy is constitutionally protected in the
United States, but not in Iran, and not in numerous other coun-
tries.130 Imposition of Iranian law on Rushdie in the United
States would violate the most fundamental aspect of our
sovereignty—our constitutional right to freedom of speech—
but if we can exercise universal jurisdiction over what we
imagine violates the law of nations, why not Iran? Though the
traditional formulation limits the law of nations to the usage
of “civilized communities”131 or “civilized and Christian
nations,”132 those limitations are not likely to be persuasive to
the excluded nations.
129
Daniel Pipes, Two Decades of the Rushdie Rules, Commentary 31
(October 2010).
130
Geert Wilders, a member of the Dutch Parliament, was prosecuted in
the Netherlands for “insult[s] to a group of people because of their . . . reli-
gion,” though he was acquitted after two years of litigation. Geert Wilders,
Op-Ed, In Defense of Hurtful Speech, Wall St. J., June 24, 2011, at A13.
131
The Paquette Habana, 175 U.S. 677, 711 (1900).
132
The Antelope, 23 U.S. (10 Wheat.) 66, 75 (1825).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19463
Fifth, and most important, our judicial exercise of jurisdic-
tion with no American nexus is profoundly illegitimate. Papua
New Guinea is a small country compared to ours, but a sepa-
rate one entitled to be governed by its own people. Rio Tinto
is a British-Australian company, properly governed by the
laws of the United Kingdom and Australia, and, to the extent
it acts in Papua New Guinea, by Papua New Guinea. When
Congress passed the Alien Tort Statute in 1789, it would have
been inconceivable that courts might use the statute to impose
our notions of right and wrong on entirely foreign conduct in
foreign lands, because our country was far too small and weak
to risk provoking the hostility of any foreign power.133 It is
unimaginable that the First Congress meant to provide for tort
suits in American courts by and against Frenchmen in case the
French Revolution descended into the Terror, yet today’s
interpretation so construes the statute. The First Congress,
remembering well our objection to British imposition of
authority from across the Atlantic upon us, would not have
thought it proper for federal courts to do the same to others
across the Pacific.
The judicial imperialism inherent in the exercise of univer-
sal jurisdiction threatens harm to the very people meant to be
helped. For example, there can be no serious question that
apartheid in the former Union of South Africa was a terrible
wrong and that eliminating it was a great accomplishment for
justice. But when the Second Circuit opened the door to class
actions for damages resulting from apartheid,134 post-apartheid
South African President Thabo Mbeki “consider[ed] it com-
pletely unacceptable that matters that are central to the future
of our country should be adjudicated in foreign courts which
133
Thomas H. Lee, The Safe-Conduct Theory of the Alien Tort Statute,
106 Colum. L. Rev. 830, 855 (2006) (describing how “the United States
was the newest and weakest member of the Eurocentric world, and the
Republic[ ] . . . would benefit from reciprocal treatment in the capitals of
the more powerful and established European sovereigns”).
134
Khulumani v. Barclay Nat’l Bank Ltd., 504 F.3d 254 (2d Cir. 2007).
19464 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
bear no responsibility for the well-being of our country . . . .”
135
Black South Africans had their own process for dealing
with the great injustice of apartheid without destroying their
country. Papua New Guinea and Bougainville have suffered
through a ruinous civil war that lasted for nearly a decade.
However they decide to work out their reconstruction and rec-
onciliation, that delicate process should not be distorted by
our heavy, ignorant, and foreign hand.
“[J]udges ought to be exposed to the society in which the
consequences of their ruling will fall, as a control on the indif-
ferent, the frivolous, and the rigid, and an assurance that deci-
sion is taken only in conditions of full investment.”136 When
judges are not part of the society they judge, there is nothing
to offset the temptation towards grandiose moral posturing,
attractive to people who judge disputes in societies where
they have no stake. Imposition of our own moral judgments
onto foreigners in foreign lands is imperialism by courts
instead of gunboats, and is just as wrong.
Conclusion
Assaulting an ambassador unquestionably violates the law
of nations and constitutes an actionable tort under the Alien
Tort Statute. Perhaps some of the wrongs alleged in the com-
plaint do as well, though the judges in the majority cannot
agree on which ones. But a United States federal district court
lacks jurisdiction to entertain a tort action even for so plain a
violation of the law of nations as an assault on an Australian
ambassador by a Papua New Guinean in Bougainville. Con-
135
President Thabo Mbeki, Statement by President Thabo Mbeki to the
National Houses of Parliament and the Nation of South Africa, on the
Occasion of the Tabling of the Report of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission (Apr. 15, 2003)); see also Khulumani, 504 F.3d at 299-300
(Korman, J., dissenting).
136
Joshua Kleinfeld, Skeptical Internationalism: A Study of Whether
International Law is Law, 78 Fordham L. Rev. 2451, 2521 (2010).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19465
gress has not provided for application of the Alien Tort Stat-
ute, conferring jurisdiction over “a tort only in violation of the
law of nations,” on torts committed by foreign nationals in
foreign countries against foreign nationals.
This case calls for judicial humility. Instead, we arrogate to
ourselves imperial authority over the whole world.
This case should be dismissed.
IKUTA, Circuit Judge, dissenting, joined by Judges
KLEINFELD, CALLAHAN and BEA:
In its rush to announce which decisions of selected interna-
tional tribunals, which unratified or unenforceable treaties,
and which favorite academic theories create international law
norms enforceable in federal courts, the majority has stum-
bled on the threshold question: whether the Alien Tort Statute
(ATS) gives us jurisdiction over this particular suit at all. As
it happens, this threshold is no mere doorsill but a formidable
obstacle: in fact, the ATS gives us no authority to hear a case
where an alien sues another alien. That is, Congress enacted
the ATS under the authority of the foreign diversity clause,
which provides that the federal judicial power extends to con-
troversies between “a State, or the Citizens thereof, and for-
eign States, Citizens or Subjects,” U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl.
1. This means that in enacting the ATS, Congress authorized
federal courts to hear actions where an alien sues a U.S. citi-
zen, but gave federal courts no authority to hear suits between
two aliens. Because the majority sees fit to brush past these
limitations and give itself unlimited authority to adjudicate
suits between aliens for torts arising anywhere in the world,
I respectfully dissent.1
1
The majority is correct that neither party raised this jurisdictional issue.
See Maj. op. at 19332. Its account is incomplete, however: five judges
19466 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
I
The ATS provides that district courts have “original juris-
diction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, commit-
ted in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United
States.” 28 U.S.C. § 1350. To determine whether this lan-
guage gives a federal court authority to hear a suit between
two aliens, it is necessary to revisit basic principles of juris-
diction. In order for a federal court to have jurisdiction over
a suit, two criteria must be met: first, Congress must enact a
statute granting the court subject matter jurisdiction over that
category of suits;2 and second, Congress’s grant must be
within the scope of Article III. It is hornbook law that “Con-
gress may not expand the jurisdiction of the federal courts
beyond the bounds established by the Constitution.” Verlin-
den, B.V. v. Cent. Bank of Nigeria, 461 U.S. 480, 491 (1983).
Article III allows Congress to give federal courts authority
to hear cases that fall into roughly three categories: (1) cases
“arising under” the laws of the United States, U.S. Const. art.
III, § 2, cl. 1 (“all Cases . . . arising under this Constitution,
the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which
shall be made, under their Authority”); (2) cases relating to a
voted to request supplemental briefing on this issue, but in a surprising
and unprecedented decision, six judges voted against obtaining the parties’
input on this issue. Nevertheless, we must address this key jurisdictional
concern sua sponte, even without the benefit of the parties’ briefing on
this issue. See Travelers Indem. Co. v. Bailey, 129 S. Ct. 2195, 2205-06
(2009) (“[Federal courts] are courts with authority, when parties are
brought before them in accordance with the requirements of due process,
to determine whether or not they have jurisdiction to entertain the cause
and for this purpose to construe and apply the statute under which they are
asked to act.” (alteration in original) (quoting Chicot Cnty. Drainage Dist.
v. Baxter State Bank, 308 U.S. 371, 376 (1940)) (internal quotation marks
omitted)).
2
There is only one exception to this rule, not applicable here: Article III
of the Constitution gives the Supreme Court original jurisdiction over
cases involving ambassadors and suits involving states as parties. See U.S.
Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 2.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19467
specific subject matter, see U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 2 (“all
Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction”); and (3) cases
relating to specific parties, see U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 2
(“all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and
Consuls; . . . Controversies to which the United States shall
be a party; . . . between two or more States; between a State
and Citizens of another State; between Citizens of different
States; between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands
under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the
Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects”).
As explained in detail below, the First Congress did not
give federal courts authority to hear cases in the first category
(cases “arising under” the “Laws of the United States”) when
it enacted the ATS, because it neither created a body of fed-
eral law nor authorized courts to do so, and international law
is not itself part of the “Laws of the United States” for pur-
poses of Article III. The second category (cases relating to
admiralty and maritime law) is not applicable here. Rather, it
is clear that in enacting the ATS, the First Congress gave
courts authority only over cases in the third category: namely,
cases between citizens and aliens. This conclusion finds
strong support in the contemporaneous history and interpreta-
tion of the Constitution and the Judiciary Act of 1789, which
created the ATS.
A
The structure for analyzing the scope of a congressional
grant of jurisdiction is set forth in Verlinden, which consid-
ered a situation analogous to this one. In Verlinden, the Court
considered whether Congress had exceeded the scope of Arti-
cle III in enacting the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
(FSIA), which, among other things, gives federal courts sub-
ject matter jurisdiction over actions by foreign plaintiffs
against foreign sovereigns. 461 U.S. at 482, 491. Verlinden
first considered whether the FSIA fell within the scope of the
foreign diversity clause. The Court concluded that the foreign
19468 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
diversity clause, which extends the judicial power only to
cases between citizens and aliens, was “not sufficiently
broad” to give Congress authority to enact the FSIA, id. at
482, since the foreign diversity clause does not authorize suits
between two aliens.
Next Verlinden considered whether Congress’s grant of
subject matter jurisdiction in enacting the FSIA was within
the scope of the “arising under” clause. The Court posited that
if the FSIA were a “purely jurisdictional” statute, i.e., one that
seeks to do “nothing more than grant jurisdiction over a par-
ticular class of cases,” then Congress could not have con-
ferred jurisdiction on federal courts pursuant to the “arising
under” clause. Id. at 496 (quoting The Propeller Genesee
Chief v. Fitzhugh, 53 U.S. (12 How.) 443, 451 (1852)). This
reasoning is obviously correct: a “purely jurisdictional stat-
ute” granting jurisdiction over a particular class of cases does
not make that particular class of cases arise under federal law
any more than the diversity jurisdiction statute, 28 U.S.C.
§ 1332, makes a $100,000 breach of contract suit between a
Massachusetts corporation and a Maine citizen “arise under”
federal law. On the other hand, if Congress created a substan-
tive body of federal law in enacting the FSIA, claims invok-
ing that substantive body of law could “arise under” the FSIA,
and federal courts could then hear FSIA cases between aliens
under the “arising under” clause.
After examining the history and structure of the FSIA, the
Court concluded that the FSIA did constitute a body of sub-
stantive federal law because: (1) the FSIA was not purely
jurisdictional, but rather, “simply one part” of “a broad statu-
tory framework governing assertions of foreign sovereign
immunity,” Verlinden, 461 U.S. at 496-97; (2) in enacting the
FSIA, “Congress expressly exercised its power to regulate
foreign commerce, along with other specified Article I pow-
ers,” id. at 496-97; and (3) actions under the FSIA would
require courts to apply the statute’s substantive law regarding
sovereign immunity, id. at 496-97. Given these three factors,
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19469
Verlinden concluded that an action against a foreign sovereign
invoking the FSIA “ ‘arises under’ federal law, within the
meaning of Article III.” Id. at 497. And because cases invok-
ing the FSIA “arise under” federal law, federal courts have
jurisdiction to hear FSIA suits between two aliens. Id.
Applying this three-factor analysis to the ATS, it is clear
that Congress did not create a body of federal law when it
enacted the ATS; rather the ATS falls on the purely jurisdic-
tional side of the divide. First, Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain has
told us that the ATS is a purely jurisdictional statute that does
nothing but grant federal courts jurisdiction over a species of
claims that incorporate “the law of nations.” 542 U.S. 692,
713-14, 729 (2004).
Second, in enacting the ATS, Congress did not even pur-
port to exercise its Article I power “to define offenses against
the ‘Law of Nations,’ Art. I, § 8, cl. 10,” Verlinden, 461 U.S.
at 494 n.19, or, for that matter, exercise any of its enumerated
Article I powers. Verlinden placed great importance on the
fact that Congress expressly exercised its Article I foreign
commerce powers in enacting the FSIA by setting forth a
comprehensive scheme relating to foreign entities and codify-
ing standards governing foreign relations as an aspect of sub-
stantive federal law. Id. at 496-97 & n.22. By contrast, in
enacting the ATS, a single clause, Congress did not include
anything similar. See The Propeller Genesee Chief, 53 U.S. at
451-52 (stating that the lack of congressional intent “to exer-
cise [its] power to regulate commerce” was “evident” from
the law’s containing “no regulations of commerce”).
Nor did Congress exercise its Article I powers in enacting
the ATS by giving the courts authority to create a body of fed-
eral law. Although Verlinden did not address this manner of
creating a substantive body of federal law, the Court held in
Textile Workers of America v. Lincoln Mills of Alabama, that
a facially jurisdictional statute can be a substantive exercise
of Congress’s Article I Commerce Clause power where Con-
19470 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
gress intended the statute to authorize federal courts to fash-
ion a body of federal law for a specific purpose. 353 U.S. 448
(1957). But this theory is inapplicable to the ATS: Sosa
expressly rejected the view that the ATS was an “authority for
the creation of a new cause of action for torts in violation of
international law,” 542 U.S. at 713, and contrasted the federal
courts’ limited authority to recognize certain pre-existing
international norms pursuant to the ATS with the “express
congressional authorization to devise a body of law directly”
in Lincoln Mills, id. at 726.3 See also Mohammed v. Rumsfeld,
No. 07-5178, ___ F.3d ___, 2011 WL 2462851, at *9 n.25
(D.C. Cir. June 21, 2011) (“[T]he ATS is easily distinguish-
able from section 301(a) of the [LMRA]. Section 301(a) is
part of an extensive statutory enactment and, although it
speaks only to federal jurisdiction, other provisions of the
LMRA establish substantive legal duties and rights. The ATS,
by contrast, is a stand-alone grant of jurisdiction only.” (cita-
tions omitted)).
Third, unlike the FSIA, the ATS is not a “comprehensive
regulatory statute.” Verlinden, 461 U.S. at 497. Rather than
requiring courts to apply any congressionally enacted stan-
dards, as in the FSIA, the ATS merely authorizes courts to
recognize certain already existing norms. Sosa, 542 U.S. at
732.
In sum, Verlinden’s three-factor analysis shows that Con-
gress did not create substantive federal law in enacting the
ATS, and, as a result, aliens bringing international law tort
actions and claiming jurisdiction under the ATS do not, by
3
Sosa’s holding that the ATS “gave the district courts ‘cognizance’ of
certain causes of action . . . not power to mold substantive law,” 542 U.S.
at 713 (emphasis added), is reinforced by its consistent use of “recognize”
and “entertain.” See, e.g., id. at 714 (“[F]ederal courts could entertain
claims once the jurisdictional grant was on the books, because torts in vio-
lation of the law of nations would have been recognized within the com-
mon law of the time.”); id. at 724 (First Congress “understood that the
district courts would recognize private causes of action”).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19471
force of that statute, raise claims that “arise under” federal
law for purposes of Article III jurisdiction.
B
As shown above, Verlinden eliminates the argument that
international law tort suits between two aliens “arise under”
the ATS, and thus forecloses one basis for federal courts to
hear suits between aliens. It does not, however, address the
related theory that Congress enacted the ATS on the under-
standing that it fell within the scope of Article III’s “arising
under” clause because the “law of nations” is part of the
“Laws of the United States.” This argument also fails. As
explained below, neither the text of the Constitution nor his-
torical evidence supports this theory, and Supreme Court
decisions weigh against it.
The interpretation of the phrase “Laws of the United
States” in Article III must begin with the language of the Con-
stitution and the intent of the Framers, see United States v.
Woodley, 751 F.2d 1008, 1009-10 (9th Cir. 1985) (en banc),
and nothing in Article III or the Constitution as a whole
implies that the reference to “Laws of the United States” in
Article III included the “law of nations” within its scope.
Indeed, the textual evidence strongly supports the opposite
conclusion. Although the Framers used the term “law of
nations” in the Constitution for certain purposes, see, e.g.,
U.S. Const. art I, § 8 (giving Congress the power “[t]o define
and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas,
and Offenses against the Law of Nations”), the term is not
included in Article III. We generally presume that the inclu-
sion and omission of language in different sections of the
same statute is intentional and purposeful, and for the same
reason, we should not read “law of nations” into the Article
III reference to “Laws of the United States.” Cf. Estate of Bell
v. Comm’r, 928 F.2d 901, 904 (9th Cir. 1991); Ariz. Elec.
Power Coop. v. United States, 816 F.2d 1366, 1375 (9th Cir.
1987) (“When Congress includes a specific term in one sec-
19472 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
tion of a statute but omits it in another section of the same
Act, it should not be implied where it is excluded.”).
The historical evidence also supports the presumption that
the Framers intentionally omitted the “law of nations” from
the scope of the judicial power established in Article III. For
example, there were suggestions to draft the Constitution so
as to extend the judicial power to claims arising under the law
of nations, see, e.g., The Federalist No. 80 (proposing that the
judicial power extend to “cases arising upon treaties and the
laws of nations”), and delegates at the Constitutional Conven-
tion considered specific proposals to add such language, see
3 Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 604, 608 (Max
Farrand ed., Yale 1911) (quoting the plan placed before the
Convention by Charles Pinckney of South Carolina: “an
Appeal shall be allowed from the judicial Courts of the sev-
eral States in all Causes wherein Questions shall arise on the
Construction of Treaties made by U.S.—or on the Law of
Nations” (internal quotation marks omitted)); 2 Records at
157 (quoting the plan presented to the Convention by William
Paterson of New Jersey: “the Judiciary [shall] have authority
to hear and determine . . . all Cases . . . which may arise . . .
on the Law of Nations, or general commercial or marine
Laws”). Ultimately, however, the delegates chose not to
include such a reference in the final draft of Article III, indi-
cating a purposeful decision not to extend the judicial power
to the full scope of the law of nations. Instead, they limited
the judicial power to specific areas of international law, i.e.,
admiralty and ambassadors. J. Andrew Kent, Congress’s
Under-Appreciated Power to Define and Punish Offenses
Against the Law of Nations, 85 Tex. L. Rev. 843, 938 n.418
(2007).
Taking this textual evidence as a whole, there is no support
for an argument that the First Congress, a good number of
whom had participated in the Constitutional Convention, see
Sosa, 542 U.S. at 730; Ames v. Kansas, 111 U.S. 449, 464
(1884), understood international law to be part of the “Laws
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19473
of the United States.” The Framers did not expressly include
the “law of nations” in Article III, and the historical evidence
weighs against a theory that the Framers implicitly included
the “law of nations” in the distinct phrase, “Laws of the
United States.”
This reading is confirmed by a series of subsequent
Supreme Court decisions establishing that cases presenting
questions of international law do not arise under the laws of
the United States for purposes of Article III. See Caperton v.
Bowyer, 81 U.S. 216, 228 (1871) (“It is said that [the plea]
involves a question of international law. If it does, this can
give this court no jurisdiction. The law of nations is not
embodied in any provision of the Constitution, nor in any
treaty, act of Congress, or any authority, or commission
derived from the United States.”); N.Y. Life Ins. Co. v. Hen-
dren, 92 U.S. 286, 286-87 (1875) (holding that the court
lacked jurisdiction to hear a case involving “the general laws
of war, as recognized by the law of nations applicable to this
case,” because “it [was] nowhere appearing that the constitu-
tion, laws, treaties, or executive proclamations, of the United
States were necessarily involved in the decision”); Am. Ins.
Co. v. 356 Bales of Cotton, 26 U.S. 511, 545 (1828) (“A case
in admiralty does not, in fact, arise under the Constitution or
laws of the United States.”).4 Rather, as the majority agrees,
4
The majority does not dispute that admiralty law is a significant part
of the law of nations, see Sosa, 542 U.S. at 715; United States v. Flores,
289 U.S. 137, 148 (1933), and that admiralty cases do not arise under the
Laws of the United States, see Bales of Cotton, 26 U.S. at 545. These
holdings support the conclusion that cases presenting questions of interna-
tional law (such as admiralty cases) do not arise under the “Laws of the
United States” for purposes of Article III. The majority attempts to refute
this logic by arguing that admiralty law has been “carved out by the
Supreme Court as special . . . for reasons wholly inapplicable to claims
cognizable under the ATS.” Maj. op. at 19351 (citing Romero v. Int’l Ter-
minal Operating Co., 358 U.S. 354, 359-80 (1959)). But Romero’s hold-
ing that Congress did not intend federal courts to hear admiralty law
claims under § 1331, 358 U.S. at 378-80, did not overrule 356 Bales of
19474 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
the law of nations “was at the time part of the so-called gen-
eral common law,” which “was not federal law under the
Supremacy Clause.” 542 U.S. at 739 (Scalia, J., concurring in
part and concurring in the judgment); Maj. op. at 19342-43.
Because the First Congress did not exercise its Article I
powers to create substantive law and did not understand the
law of nations to be part of the “Laws of the United States,”
it could not have enacted the ATS on the understanding that
it fell within the scope of Article III’s “arising under” clause.
This conclusion does not, however, render the ATS unconsti-
tutional. Congress’s grant of jurisdiction to federal courts
under the ATS was within the scope of a different provision
of Article III: namely, the “foreign diversity clause,” Verlin-
den B.V. v. Central Bank of Nigeria, 461 U.S. 480, 485 n.6
(1983), which gives federal courts authority to hear cases
alleging a tort in violation of the law of nations between a citi-
zen and an alien.
II
That the ATS gave federal courts jurisdiction to consider
only suits for “torts committed in violation of the law of
nations” brought by aliens against citizens, is well-supported
and corroborated by the historical backdrop to Article III and
the Judiciary Act, and confirmed by the Supreme Court’s
decision in Mossman v. Higginson, 4 U.S. (4 Dall.) 12 (1800).
Contemporary Anglo-European legal principles provided that
a country had no responsibility under the law of nations to
adjudicate suits between two aliens arising abroad, but was
obligated to redress injuries its citizens caused to aliens.
Cotton, and indeed sheds no light on whether admiralty law is part of the
“Laws of the United States” for purposes of Article III’s “arising under”
clause. See Verlinden, 461 U.S. at 494 (noting thatthe “Court never has
held that statutory ‘arising under’ jurisdiction is identical to Article III
‘arising under’ jurisdiction,” despite the identical language in Article III
and § 1331).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19475
When the youthful United States enacted the ATS as part of
its efforts to discharge these obligations, it had no intention of
intruding in other nations’ affairs, thereby giving them just
cause for war. Within this historical context, the Supreme
Court appropriately interpreted the First Congress’s grant of
jurisdiction to federal courts to hear actions involving aliens
as limited to suits between aliens and citizens.
A
A review of the legal doctrines prevailing at the time the
United States came onto the international scene shows that the
well-established rules of Anglo-European “law of nations”
required (among other things) that nations provide a means
for aliens to redress injuries they received at the hands of citi-
zens. According to Emmerich de Vattel, the most cited
scholar in post-Revolution America,5 injuring a citizen of
another nation was tantamount to harming the foreigner’s sov-
ereign, E. de Vattel, The Law of Nations bk. 2, ch. 6,
§§ 71-72, at 136 (Charles G. Fenwick trans., Oceana Publica-
tions 1964) (1758) (all citations hereinafter are to bk. 2, ch.
6). Therefore, “a nation had a duty to prevent its citizens from
harming not only ambassadors and public ministers whom it
received, but all foreign citizens whom it admitted within its
borders.” Anthony J. Bellia Jr. & Bradford R. Clark, The
5
See U.S. Steel Corp. v. Multistate Tax Comm’n, 434 U.S. 452, 462 n.12
(1978) (citing 1 J. Kent, Commentaries on American Law 18 (1826))
(“The international jurist most widely cited in the first 50 years after the
Revolution was Emmerich de Vattel.”); Douglas J. Sylvester, Interna-
tional Law as Sword or Shield? Early American Foreign Policy and the
Law of Nations, 32 N.Y.U. J. INT’L L. & POL. 1, 67 (1999) (explaining that
in the 2 decades after the Revolution, American judicial decisions cited to
Pufendorf, 9; Grotius, 16; Bynkershoek, 25; and Vattel, a “staggering” 92
times). Indeed, in 1775, “Benjamin Franklin acknowledged receipt of
three copies of a new edition, in French, of Vattel’s Law of Nations and
remarked that the book ‘has been continually in the hands of the members
of our Congress now sitting.’ ” U.S. Steel Corp., 434 U.S. at 462 n.12
(italics added) (quoting 2 F. Wharton, United States Revolutionary Diplo-
matic Correspondence 64 (1889)).
19476 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
Alien Tort Statute and the Law of Nations, 78 U. Chi. L. Rev.
445, 472-73 (2011) (footnote omitted) (emphasis added).
Because even the most developed country cannot prevent
all harms to foreigners, see Vattel, § 73, at 136, an injury to
an alien did not automatically constitute a violation of the law
of nations unless the country approved and ratified the act of
its citizen, id. § 74, at 136, either by authorizing it before, id.
§ 78, at 137, or, more relevant here, by failing to redress it
after the fact, id. § 76, at 136-37; see also Blackstone, Com-
mentaries *68 (stating that once the injured nation demanded
“satisfaction and justice to be done on the offender,” the fail-
ure of the “the state to which he belongs” to provide such
relief rendered that state “an accomplice or abettor of [its]
subject’s crime,” and drew it into “the calamities of foreign
war”). Indeed, a sovereign’s refusal to make amends did “no
less a wrong” to the foreign citizen’s nation “than if he
injured [that Nation] himself,” Vattel, § 72, at 136, and “gave
the [harmed] nation just cause for war,” Bellia & Clark, 78 U.
Chi. L. Rev. at 477 & nn.159-60 (citing Vattel, Burlamaqui,
Pufendorf, and Grotius). See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 715 (“An
assault against an ambassador, for example, impinged upon
the sovereignty of the foreign nation and if not adequately
redressed could rise to an issue of war.” (citing Vattel)); 1
U.S. Op. Atty. Gen. 566, 568-69 (1822) (advising the Secre-
tary of State of his duty to deliver a Danish slave to the minis-
ter of Denmark on the ground that “any attempt on the part
of the United States, or the individual citizens thereof under
the sanction and protection of their government to interfere
with Danish regulations [tolerating slavery] would be an inva-
sion of the sovereignty of Denmark, and, if avowed and unre-
dressed on our part, a just cause of war”).
To avoid giving offense or creating a ground for the injured
sovereign to declare war, England allowed aliens to sue citi-
zens for injuries to their person or their personal property. An
alien could bring a common law action in an English court
against a British subject, Bellia & Clark, 78 U. Chi. L. Rev.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19477
at 482 (listing assault, battery and false imprisonment among
the available actions), and could even sue British subjects in
an English court for acts of violence committed outside of
England’s territorial jurisdiction, id. at 483.
Suits between aliens for acts occurring in foreign countries
raised a different issue, however. For one thing, nations had
no duty to adjudicate them. See id. at 484 (explaining that
“[u]nder the law of nations, nations declined to exercise juris-
diction over actions that were local to another nation”). For
another, providing a forum might itself have offended a for-
eign sovereign. See Vattel, Law of Nations, bk. 2, ch. 4, § 54,
at 131 (“It clearly follows from the liberty and independence
of nations, that each has the right to govern itself as it thinks
proper, and that no one of them has the least right to interfere
in the government of another.”). In fact, Vattel’s explanation
that unless permitted by treaty, a “sovereign has the right to
treat as enemies those who undertake to interfere in its domes-
tic affairs otherwise than by their good offices,” id. § 57, at
132, dovetails neatly with Chief Justice Marshall’s observa-
tion that “the perfect equality of nations” precludes any nation
from “impos[ing] a rule on another,” The Antelope, 23 U.S.
(10 Wheat.) 66, 122 (1825).
Because adjudicating non-local suits between two aliens
was neither required nor even encouraged by the law of
nations, courts did not do it. See, e.g., Mostyn v. Fabrigas,
(1774) 98 Eng. Rep. 1021 (K.B.); 1 Cowp. 161 (Lord Mans-
field citing the example of an action between two Frenchmen
based on a fight in France as an example of a case arising
“outside of the British “realm which ought not to be tried any-
where but in the country” where it arose); Vernor v. Elvies
(1610), 11 Mor. Dict. of Dec. 4788 (Scot.) (the Scotch Court
of Sessions refusing to hear a contract action between two
Englishmen that arose entirely outside of Scotland).6
6
Early decisions in the United States echoed this rule. See Molony v.
Dows, 8 Abb. Pr. 316 (N.Y. Sup. 1859) (“[N]o case will be found in the
19478 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
B
These principles were very much on the mind of the Fram-
ers and the members of the First Congress. Before the Consti-
tution was enacted, the newly formed nation had difficulty
meeting its obligation to redress violations of the law of
nations. See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 716 (“The Continental Con-
gress was hamstrung by its inability to ‘cause infractions of
treaties, or of the law of nations to be punished.’ ”) (quoting
J. Madison, Journal of the Constitutional Convention 60 (E.
Scott ed., 1893)). One significant concern was the inability of
the federal government to redress injuries to aliens (primarily
British nationals) by American citizens.7 With an eye toward
remedying these violations, thereby ensuring that the United
States met its obligations under the law of nations, the Conti-
nental Congress enacted a resolution imploring states to pass
laws protecting foreigners.8 See Sosa, 542 U.S. at 716 (citing
whole course of English jurisprudence in which an action for an injury to
the person, inflicted by one foreigner upon another in a foreign country,
was ever held to be maintainable in an English court.”); Willendson v.
Forsoket, 29 F. Cas. 1283, 1284 (D.C. Pa. 1801) (No. 17,682) (stating the
general rule that courts ought “not to take cognizance of disputes between
the masters and crews of foreign ships,” and should instead refer “them to
their own courts”).
7
In fact, some Americans even worried about acts of violence against
British nationals. See Bellia & Clark, 78 U. Chi. L. Rev. at 501 (noting
that the president of the Continental Congress, Elias Boudinor, feared that
“postwar acts of violence by New York Whigs against the British were so
extreme as possibly to ‘involve us in another war’ ”).
8
Although not directly relevant to the civil suits at issue here, the Mar-
bois incident of May 1784, in which a French citizen assaulted the Secre-
tary of the French Legion in Philadelphia, was also instrumental in
highlighting the young nation’s inability to redress criminal acts against
ambassadors. While the perpetrator was ultimately prosecuted for a crimi-
nal violation of the law of nations in state court, see Respublica v. De
Longchamps, 1 U.S. (1 Dall.) 111 (Pa. O.T. 1784), the incident prompted
the French minister to threaten to leave Pennsylvania “unless the decision
on Longchamps Case should give them full satisfaction.” Sosa, 542 U.S.
at 717 n.11 (quoting Letter from Samuel Hardy to Gov. Benjamin Harri-
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19479
21 Journals of the Continental Congress 1136-37 (G. Hunt
ed., 1912)). Specifically, that resolution recommended that
the States “authorise suits . . . for damages by the party
injured, and for compensation to the United States for damage
sustained by them from an injury done to a foreign power by
a citizen.” Id. (quoting 21 Journals of the Continental Con-
gress at 1137) (ellipsis in original) (emphasis added) (internal
quotation marks omitted).
Only one state (Connecticut) did so, however, see An Act
to Prevent Infractions of the Law of Nations, reprinted in 4
Public Records of Connecticut for the Year 1782, 156-57
(Leonard W. Labaree ed., 1942), and it is likely that even its
courts declined to exercise jurisdiction over suits between
aliens. See Bellia & Clark, 78 U.Chi. L. Rev. at 492 (arguing
that Brinley v. Avery, 1 Kirby 25 (Conn. Super. Ct. 1786), dis-
missed a claim between two aliens because “British courts
had exclusive jurisdiction of a claim arising between British
subjects in British territory”).
Shortly thereafter, the Articles of Confederation yielded to
the Constitution. Unlike its predecessor, the Constitution (spe-
cifically, Article III) provided the judicial power necessary to
redress injuries that could otherwise give offense to foreign
nations. First, the Framers vested the Supreme Court with
original jurisdiction over “all Cases affecting Ambassadors,
other public Ministers and Consuls.” U.S. Const. art. III, § 2,
cl. 2. Second, they authorized federal courts to hear “all Cases
of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction.” Id. cl. 1. Third, they
authorized federal courts to hear cases “between a State, or
the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.”
Id.
son of Virginia, June 24, 1784, in 7 Letters of Members of the Continental
Congress 558, 559 (E. Burnett ed., 1934)) (internal quotation marks omit-
ted). In addition to enacting the ATS, Congress addressed these issues in
the Judiciary Act, giving federal courts jurisdiction over acts involving
ambassadors.
19480 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
C
The First Congress addressed these same law of nations
concerns in the Judiciary Act of 1789, which created lower
federal courts and defined their jurisdiction. See Act of Sept.
24, 1789 (hereinafter “Judiciary Act”), ch. 20, § 13, 1 Stat. 73.
In addition to giving the Supreme Court original jurisdiction
over cases by or against ambassadors and other public minis-
ters, Judiciary Act § 13, 1 Stat. at 80-81, and giving the dis-
trict courts jurisdiction over admiralty and maritime cases, id.
§ 9, 1 Stat. at 77, Congress specified that courts could hear
two types of civil cases where aliens were parties. Section 11
gave the circuit courts original jurisdiction over suits where
an alien was involved and the amount in controversy
exceeded $500. Id. § 11, 1 Stat. at 78 (granting the circuit
courts “original,” though non-exclusive, “cognizance . . . of
all suits of a civil nature at common law or in equity, where
the matter in dispute exceeds . . . five hundred dollars, and . . .
an alien is a party”). This provision allowed British creditors
owed significant sums by U.S. citizens to bring an action in
federal court, thus addressing concerns about biased state
courts reluctant to force their citizens to make good on debts
owed to British subjects, in violation of the Paris Peace Treaty
of 1783. See Definitive Treaty of Peace Between the United
States and his Brittanic Majesty, art. IV, U.S.-G.B., Sept. 3,
1783, 8 Stat 80, 82 (providing that “creditors on either side,
shall meet with no lawful impediment to the recovery of the
full value in sterling money, of all bona fide debts heretofore
contracted”).
Section 9 (the ATS), meanwhile, conferred non-exclusive
jurisdiction on the federal courts over “all causes where an
alien sues for a tort only in violation of the law of nations or
a treaty of the United States,” which gave aliens an additional
vehicle for redressing certain torts against them where the
damage did not meet the $500 jurisdictional limit of Section
11. Id. § 9, 1 Stat. at 77. Taken together, this series of juris-
dictional grants represented a substantial step toward “vindi-
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19481
cat[ing] any incident which, if mishandled by a state court,
might blossom into an international crisis.” Tel-Oren v. Lib-
yan Arab Republic, 726 F.2d 774, 782 (D.C. Cir. 1984)
(Edwards, J., concurring).
D
In interpreting the First Congress’s grant of jurisdiction in
Section 11, the Supreme Court’s brief analysis in Mossman v.
Higginson directly addresses the jurisdictional interpretation
required in this case. See 4 U.S. (4 Dall.) 12 (1800) (per
curiam). Mossman involved an action under Section 11 by
British merchants to foreclose their mortgage on certain prop-
erty that had been seized by state commissioners and sold to
third parties. First, the Court stated that Section 11 “can, and
must, receive a construction, consistent with the constitution.”
Id. Mossman then noted that Section 11 gave federal courts
“cognizance of suits ‘where an alien is a party,’ ” but because
“the legislative power of conferring jurisdiction on the federal
Courts, is, in this respect, confined to suits between citizens
and foreigners,” the Court had to interpret Section 11 so as to
limit it to cases between aliens and citizens. See id. (emphasis
in original) (“[W]e must so expound the terms of the law, as
to meet the case, ‘where, indeed, an alien is one party,’ but a
citizen is the other.”). There was no alternative, the Court
explained, because there was no other source of subject matter
jurisdiction: neither the Constitution nor Congress had given
courts jurisdiction over the suit’s specific subject matter. Id.
(“Neither the constitution, nor the act of congress, regard, on
this point, the subject of the suit, but the parties.”). Because
the proceedings below did not state that the defendants (the
third party owners of the mortgaged property) were citizens,
and because the identity of the parties was “indispensable to
the exercise of jurisdiction,” the Court quashed the writ of error.9
9
Lower courts had likewise earlier interpreted Section 11 as being lim-
ited to suits between an alien and a citizen. See Fields v. Taylor, 9 F. Cas.
41 (C.C.D. Mass. 1799) (No. 4777) (federal circuit court refusing to exer-
19482 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
Although the Supreme Court never had occasion to inter-
pret the jurisdictional scope of Section 9,10 Mossman’s analy-
sis is equally applicable to that section. Like Section 11,
Section 9 gives federal courts jurisdiction over suits where an
alien is a party. And like Section 11, neither the Constitution
nor Congress gave federal courts an alternative source of
jurisdiction for torts “in violation of the law of nations.” As
explained in Part I, ATS does not give federal courts jurisdic-
tion to hear international law claims between two aliens pur-
suant to the “arising under” clause, because the ATS itself is
a purely jurisdictional statute that does not make suits
between two aliens “arise under” federal law, and because
international law is not itself substantive federal law. Because
the ATS “can, and must, receive a construction[ ] consistent
with the constitution,” id., federal courts have only one
choice: they must, under Mossman, interpret Section 9’s grant
of jurisdiction over international law claims as limited to
cases between aliens and citizens.11 See id. Accordingly, we
cise § 11 jurisdiction over a claim between two British subjects on notes
executed in England); Walton v. McNeil, 29 F. Cas. 141 (C.C.D. Mass.
1794) (No. 17,134) (federal circuit court refusing to exercise jurisdiction
over suit by one Quebec inhabitant against another on a promissory obli-
gation arising in Canada).
10
There are only two cases interpreting Section 9 contemporaneously,
and neither case addressed the question whether the ATS granted jurisdic-
tion over suits between aliens, see Bolchos v. Darrel, 3 F. Cas. 810 (No.
1,607) (D.S.C. 1795); Moxon v. The Fanny, 17 F. Cas. 942 (No. 9,895).
11
The D.C. Circuit has recognized that this construction more faithfully
reflects the First Congress’s intent than does the majority’s alternative
interpretation that Congress gave courts jurisdiction over suits between
aliens. See, e.g., Doe v. Exxon Mobil Corp., No. 09-7125, ___ F.3d ___,
2011 WL 2652384, at *51 (D.C. Cir. 2011) (Kavanaugh, J., dissenting)
(“It would be very odd to think that the Congress of 1789 wanted to create
a federal tort cause of action enforceable in U.S. court for, say, a French-
man injured in London.”); id. at *10 (majority) (“[I]n deeming ‘very odd’
that the First Congress would be interested in protecting ‘a Frenchman
injured in London,’ the dissent ignores that the calculus can change where
a U.S. citizen is a cause of the harm.” (internal citation omitted)).
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19483
lack jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ suit against Rio Tinto.12
III
The majority tacitly agrees that the First Congress under-
stood that the law of nations, as part of the general common
law, “was not federal law in either the jurisdiction-conferring
or supremacy-clause sense.” Maj. op. at 19344 (quoting Wil-
liam A. Fletcher, International Human Rights in American
Courts, 93 Va. L. Rev. in Brief , 2 (2007) (internal quotation
marks omitted)). Likewise, it agrees that the First Congress
authorized federal courts to recognize pre-existing interna-
tional law norms, but not to create a body of federal law, as
in Lincoln Mills. See Maj. op. at 19344 (“[T]he ATS was
enacted to provide jurisdiction to hear claims brought pursu-
ant to causes of action that already existed at common law.”
(emphasis added)). Necessarily, then, the majority must agree
that the First Congress was acting within the scope of Article
III’s foreign diversity clause when it granted federal courts
jurisdiction over international tort cases.
That should be the end of the analysis, because our author-
ity to hear cases begins and ends with the scope of the con-
gressional grant of jurisdiction. It is well-established that only
Congress “has the constitutional authority to define the juris-
diction of the lower federal courts.” Keene Corp. v. United
States, 508 U.S. 200, 207 (1993). And only Congress has the
authority to expand the scope of federal jurisdiction it has
granted. See id. at 207 (“[O]nce the lines are drawn, limits
upon federal jurisdiction . . . must be neither disregarded nor
evaded.” (second alteration in original) (internal quotation
12
Because I conclude that Congress did not give us jurisdiction to hear
cases between two aliens, I agree with Judge Kleinfeld that the ATS does
not confer universal jurisdiction on the federal courts. I also agree with
Judge Bea that the district court misapplied the standard we set out in
Sarei v. Rio Tinto, PLC, 550 F.3d 822 (9th Cir. 2008) (en banc), regarding
prudential exhaustion.
19484 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
marks omitted)). In the absence of congressional action, the
judiciary’s extension of its own authority “runs contrary to the
established principle that the jurisdiction of the federal courts
is carefully guarded against expansion by judicial interpreta-
tion, and conflicts with the authority of Congress under Art.
III to set the limits of federal jurisdiction.” Stonebridge Inv.
Partners v. Scientific Atlanta, 552 U.S. 148, 164-65 (2008)
(quoting Cannon v. Univ. of Chi., 441 U.S. 677, 746 (1979)
(Powell, J., dissenting)) (brackets, citation, and internal quota-
tion marks omitted).
But instead of staying within the jurisdictional boundaries
created by Congress in enacting the ATS, the majority con-
tends that the scope of federal court jurisdiction under the
ATS has, without any congressional action whatsoever,
expanded over time and today extends to claims between two
aliens. The majority theorizes that: (1) Sosa must be read “to
permit courts to develop the federal common law by incorpo-
rating into it certain claims that derive from norms of interna-
tional law,” Maj. op. at 19347; (2) such federal court
pronouncements then “become federal common law,” Maj.
op. at 19347; (3) “claims premised on federal common law
arise under the law of the United States,” Maj. op. at
19344-45 (citing Illinois v. City of Milwaukee, 406 U.S. 91,
100 (1972)); and therefore, (4) federal courts have jurisdiction
to hear claims invoking international law norms because such
claims “arise under the federal common law,” Maj. op. at
19350. In sum, the majority contends that after City of Mil-
waukee, “judicially created federal rule[s] based on interna-
tional norms,” Sosa, 542 U.S. at 745 n.* (Scalia, J.,
concurring in part and concurring in the judgment), do arise
under the “Laws of the United States” for purposes of Article
III, and therefore the ATS gives us authority to hear such
claims.
But the majority’s ahistorical theory leaps over a crucial
step: whether Congress intended the ATS to give us such
authority. Because the First Congress enacted the ATS within
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19485
the scope of the foreign diversity clause, our jurisdiction
extends no further. It is therefore irrelevant whether after City
of Milwaukee, Congress could have enacted the ATS within
the scope of the Article III “arising under” clause so as to give
federal courts jurisdiction over international law tort suits
between aliens. Congress did not do so in 1789, and no subse-
quent congressional act has modified the ATS to authorize
courts to hear such claims.
Absent such a statutory grant of authority, federal courts
lack jurisdiction over international law tort suits between
aliens. As previously explained, the “constitutional power” to
decide a case “is merely the first hurdle that must be over-
come in determining that a federal court has jurisdiction over
a particular controversy.” Owen Equip. & Erection Co. v.
Kroger, 437 U.S. 365, 372 (1978). The second, and equally
significant, hurdle is congressional authorization, “[f]or the
jurisdiction of the federal courts is limited not only by the
provisions of Art. III of the Constitution, but also by Acts of
Congress.” Id. And Congress has provided no such grant of
jurisdiction either in the ATS or otherwise.
The majority concedes that the federal question statute (28
U.S.C. § 1331) does not authorize jurisdiction over interna-
tional law tort suits, see Maj. op. at 19344-45; indeed, the
majority cannot avoid this concession, given Sosa’s out of
hand rejection of the theory, see 542 U.S. at 731 n.19. Dis-
senting in Sosa, Justice Scalia argued that by authorizing fed-
eral courts to “recognize” certain international law norms, the
majority made the ATS superfluous, because “judicially cre-
ated federal rule[s] based on international norms” are federal
common law and therefore “ ‘arise under’ the laws of the
United States, not only for purposes of Article III but also for
purposes of statutory federal-question jurisdiction.” 542 U.S.
at 745 n.* (Scalia, J., concurring in part and concurring in the
judgment) (citing City of Milwaukee, 406 U.S. at 99-100). In
its rejoinder, the Sosa majority brushed aside Justice Scalia’s
concern. Congress, it explained, did not intend for § 1331 to
19486 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
be a vehicle for recognizing international law norms; as such,
§ 1331 did not authorize federal courts to do so.13 See id. at
731 n.19 (majority opinion) (finding “no reason to think that
[statutory] federal-question jurisdiction was extended” subject
to the “congressional assumption” that § 1331 would permit
courts to “exercise jurisdiction by entertaining some common
law claims derived from the law of nations”).
Sosa’s analysis of congressional intent with respect to
§ 1331 is equally applicable here: because Congress did not,
as the majority supposes, enact the ATS with the intention of
allowing federal courts to hear “federally incorporated inter-
national law claims” between aliens, we lack the authority to
do so. As a result, neither § 1331 nor the ATS nor any other
congressional enactment identified by the majority, gives us
jurisdiction over such claims.
This conclusion resolves the jurisdictional question raised
by this appeal, and it is not necessary to reach the constitu-
tional question raised by the majority’s theory, namely,
whether after City of Milwaukee, international law tort claims
fall within the scope of Article III “arising under” jurisdiction.
But in light of the foregoing analysis, the majority’s conclu-
sion is doubtful. For one thing, Caperton and Hendren held
that international law claims, unmoored from any treaty or
congressional enactment, do not arise under the Constitution
13
Although Sosa did not provide the basis for its conclusion regarding
congressional intent, it is supported by the historical record. Enacted with-
out substantial debate in 1875, § 1331 “was designed to provide a statu-
tory basis for the exercise of federal question jurisdiction provided for in
Article III.” Curtis Bradley, Jack L. Goldsmith & David H. Moore, Sosa,
Customary International Law, and the Continuing Relevance of Erie, 120
Harv. L. Rev. 869, 912 (2007). Because in 1875 the law of nations was
understood to be “nonfederal general common law,” rather than “laws of
the United States,” see section I.B, supra, Congress could not have
enacted § 1331 “on the understanding that federal courts would be able to
hear [international law—]based claims pursuant to § 1331’s jurisdictional
grant.” Bradley et al., 120 Harv. L. Rev. at 913.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19487
or federal law; and these cases remain good law. See Hen-
dren, 92 U.S. at 286-87; Caperton, 81 U.S. at 228. For
another, the majority has not cited a single case in which the
Court based its jurisdiction on a judicially created rule with
international law implications. Even in the area of interna-
tional relations, in which the Court has “assumed competence
to make judicial rules of decision of particular importance to
foreign relations,” Sosa, 542 U.S. at 726 (citing Banco
Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino, 376 U.S. 398 (1964)), the
Court did not base its jurisdiction on those rules. See, e.g.,
Am. Ins. Ass’n v. Garamendi, 539 U.S. 396 (2003) (42 U.S.C.
§ 1983, World War II treaties); First Nat’l City Bank v. Banco
Para El Comercio Exterior de Cuba, 462 U.S. 611, 615
(1983) (diversity statute); Pfizer, Inc. v. Government of India,
434 U.S. 308, 309 (1978) (Sherman Act); Sabbatino, 376 U.S.
at 424 (diversity statute).
Historical evidence also weighs against the majority’s the-
ory: the Framers did not extend the judicial power generally
to claims arising under the law of nations, but rather expressly
enumerated the components of the law of nations (interna-
tional law and admiralty law) to which the judicial power
would extend. See section I.B, supra. Indeed, suits between
aliens may well be the only category of international tort
claims not itemized in Article III, which covers suits between
aliens and citizens (via the diversity clause), incidents offend-
ing ambassadors (“Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public
Ministers and Consuls,” U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 1), and
acts of piracy (“admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction,” id.).
Despite the clear-cut limitations on the scope of our juris-
diction under the ATS, the majority claims that Sosa itself
authorized this expansion of our jurisdiction to hear claims
between aliens. The majority bases this conclusion on three
variations on the theme that Sosa held, sub silentio, that fed-
eral courts may hear claims between aliens. First, it notes that
Alvarez-Machain v. United States, 331 F.3d 604 (9th Cir.
2003) (en banc), rev’d sub nom Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542
19488 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
U.S. 692 (2004), “applied” Marcos I, where we held that Con-
gress gave federal courts subject matter jurisdiction over a
suit between two aliens, see In re Estate of Ferdinand E. Mar-
cos Human Rights Litig. (Marcos I), 978 F.2d 493, 502-03
(9th Cir. 1992). Maj. op. at 19342-43. While acknowledging
that Sosa reversed Alvarez-Machain, the majority contends
that “it did so on unrelated grounds,” and “the best reading of
Sosa is that it confirms our circuit law on this point.” Maj. op.
at 19343. Second, the majority argues that by failing to men-
tion two amicus briefs arguing that the Court lacked jurisdic-
tion to hear a suit between two aliens, Sosa necessarily
determined that suits between aliens fall within the ATS. See
Maj. op. at 19347-48. And third, the majority contends that
Sosa’s warning to federal courts to be wary of “the potential
implications for the foreign relations of the United States of
recognizing” claims involving “the power of foreign govern-
ments over their own citizens,” 542 U.S. at 727, presupposes
that federal courts have subject matter jurisdiction over those
claims. Maj. op. at 19348-49.
These three arguments fail for the same reason: the
Supreme Court has been absolutely clear that its assumption
of jurisdiction without discussion has no precedential effect.
See Ariz. Christian Sch. Tuition Org. v. Winn, 131 S. Ct.
1436, 1448-49 (2011); Rasul v. Bush, 542 U.S. 466, 496-97
(2004) (“Of course ‘the existence of unaddressed jurisdic-
tional defects has no precedential effect.’ ” (quoting Lewis v.
Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 352 n.2 (1996))); United States v. L. A.
Tucker Truck Lines, Inc., 344 U.S. 33, 38 (1952) (“[T]his
Court has followed the lead of Chief Justice Marshall who
held that this Court is not bound by a prior exercise of juris-
diction in a case where it was not questioned and it was
passed sub silentio.”). It is apparent that neither Sosa’s failure
to mention our erroneous jurisdictional holding in overruling
Alvarez-Machain, nor its failure to address an argument
amounting to a half page in two amicus briefs, among 21 such
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19489
briefs comprising over 360 pages in the aggregate,14 is binding
on us or the Court.
Indeed, Sosa had no reason to address the Article III issues
lurking in the background, because the tort claims against
Sosa shared a common nucleus of operative fact with his orig-
inal and jurisdictionally unproblematic claims against the
United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C.
§ 1346(b)(1), and the DEA agents under the diversity statute,
see 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(2). See Alvarez-Machain v. United
States, 107 F.3d 696, 699-700 (9th Cir. 1996). As such, the
district court could have exercised supplemental jurisdiction
over the balance of Sosa’s claims, see 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a),
and the Court could have reviewed the entire case as it would
any other final judgment, see 28 U.S.C. § 1254(1); see also
United Mine Workers of Am. v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715 (1966).
Had the jurisdictional question been squarely before it, Sosa
would have been obliged to grapple with this complex and
difficult issue. The majority’s suggestion that Sosa silently
brushed off this jurisdictional concern is unreasonable and
foreclosed by Supreme Court precedent.15 Rather than being
empowered by the silence of Sosa, the majority is in fact con-
strained by the Supreme Court’s express statements and rea-
soning in Mossman, which make clear that Section 9, like
Section 11, gives federal courts jurisdiction only over suits
between an alien and a citizen. Mossman has never been over-
ruled, and we are bound by it. See Agostini v. Felton, 521 U.S.
203, 237 (1997).
14
The amicus briefs quoted by the majority represent an anemic .074
percent of the 20,357 lines in Sosa’s 21 amicus briefs.
15
The majority’s assertion that courts and scholars “agree” that Sosa
“necessarily implies” that customary international law is jurisdiction-
conferring, Maj. op. at 19343, 19347, is wrong. Rather, the scope and
meaning of the ATS remain hotly disputed. Compare Maj. op. at
19348-49, 19350-51 with, e.g., Bradley et al., 120 Harv. L. Rev. 869;
Eugene Kontorovich, Implementing Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain: What
Piracy Reveals About the Limits of the Alien Tort Statute, 80 Notre Dame
L. Rev. 111 (2004).
19490 SAREI v. RIO TINTO
In sum, the majority has failed to identify any basis for
exercising jurisdiction over this suit between two aliens. All
it has to rely on is its own pronouncement of jurisdiction.
IV
The First Congress was careful. It drafted the Judiciary Act
to provide courts with jurisdiction in those cases that would
help the nation avoid giving offense to foreign nations. But it
limited this grant of jurisdiction to prevent courts from med-
dling in a foreign sovereign’s affairs in a manner that would
engender the very offense that the First Congress sought to
avoid.
The majority fails to show the same wisdom. Proving that
the judiciary lacks the “aptitude” for decisions pertaining to
foreign policy, Chicago & S. Air Lines v. Waterman S.S.
Corp., 333 U.S. 103, 111 (1948), the majority accords itself
the power to hear virtually any claim by an alien against other
aliens for torts anywhere in the world, despite the obvious
potential for working the types of mischief the Framers aimed
to avoid. See Br. of the Governments of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Commonwealth
of Australia as Amici Curiae in Supp. of Defs-
Appellees/Cross-Appellants 1 (arguing that they have long
maintained “their opposition to overly broad assertions of any
extraterritorial civil jurisdiction arising out of aliens’ claims
for alleged injuries sustained abroad . . . [which] is based on
their concern that such exercises of jurisdiction are contrary
to international law and create a substantial risk of jurisdic-
tional conflicts”). See also Government of Switzerland, Aide
Memoire (2007) (stating, in opposition to the Second Circuit’s
decision in Khulumani v. Barclay Nat. Bank. Ltd., 504 F.3d
254 (2nd Cir. 2007), that “a broad assertion of jurisdiction to
provide civil remedies for violations perpetrated by foreign
corporations against aliens in foreign places is inconsistent
with international law and may indeed undermine efforts to
promote human rights and their protection”), reprinted in Br.
SAREI v. RIO TINTO 19491
for the United States as Amicus Curiae in Supp. of Petitioners
app. C at 7a-8a, Am. Isuzu Motors, Inc. v. Ntsebeza, 128 S. Ct.
2424 (2008) (mem.) (No. 07-919).
Even more concerning, however, is that the majority has
not placed any limit on how it will select and apply rules of
international law. Without legislative direction or even a legal
framework, the majority announces in conclusory fashion that
“international law” recognizes both corporate liability and
aiding and abetting liability, and that plaintiffs’ complaints
allege the elements (as selected by the majority from sources
of varying weight) of two of plaintiffs’ international law
causes of action. In adopting this idiosyncratic approach, the
majority pays lip service to, but fails to heed, Sosa’s warning
that federal courts should exercise restraint and “not recognize
private claims under federal common law for violations of
any international law norm with less definite content and
acceptance among civilized nations than the historical para-
digms familiar when § 1350 was enacted.” 542 U.S. at 732.
The dangers created by the majority’s method of creating
(or “recognizing”) international rules of law, to say nothing of
their application to foreign nationals suing one another in fed-
eral court, are obvious. I dissent from this ill-conceived, ill-
reasoned, and, I fear, ill-fated exercise of judicial power.