“The Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal appeals court’s decision on Wednesday barring foreign citizens from suing corporations in American courts for human rights violations committed abroad. The Los Angeles Times reported that the 9-0 decision limits the scope of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) of 1789 in rejecting a lawsuit brought against Royal Dutch Petroleum by a group of Nigerian citizens accusing the company of helping their country’s government in a series of human rights violations — including, murder, rape and torture — during the 1990s.”
