Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC

Although the plaintiffs alleged that Arab Bank's New York branch facilitated financing of terrorist attacks - conduct that might implicate customary international law norms against genocide and torture - the Court's holding regarding corporate liability foreclosed their claims at the threshold. The ATS does not provide a cause of action against foreign corporations regardless of whether the underlying conduct violates international law, because federal common law has not extended corporate liability under the statute and judicial creation of such liability would raise separation-of-powers concerns. The Court found that recognizing corporate liability would require federal courts to make precisely the kind of policy judgments about the scope of international obligations that should rest with the political branches, not the judiciary. This holding meant that even though the bank's alleged conduct occurred through its U.S. operations and harmed foreign nationals, the plaintiffs' only potential remedy lay against individual officers or employees, not the corporation itself.