Supreme Court allows victims of terrorist attacks to sue the Palestinian Authority

By John Fritze CNN The Supreme Court on Friday revealed that the families of sufferers of terrorist attacks in Israel may sue the Palestinian Authority in a decision that will likely make it easier for sufferers of other overseas attacks with ties to Palestinian groups to seek damages in US courts Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the court and the vote was unanimous Related Articles Supreme Court OKs Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for minors big loss for transgender rights Supreme Court clears the way for temporary nuclear waste storage in Texas and New Mexico Feldman Reverse discrimination ruling s meaning is more than meets the eye Supreme Court blocks Mexico s B lawsuit alleging US gunmakers have fueled cartel violence Supreme Court makes it easier to claim reverse discrimination in employment We have also recognized the national ruling body s interest in holding accountable those who perpetrate an act of violence against US nationals who even when physically outside our borders remain under the particular protection of American law Roberts wrote So too the national establishment s corresponding authority to make the killing of an American abroad punishable as a federal offense that can be prosecuted in US courts At issue are a series of deadly attacks inside Israel that date back to the Second Intifada in the early s The question for the Supreme Court was whether Congress had the authority to subject the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority to the jurisdiction of federal courts which would allow the casualties of those attacks to sue for damages One of those casualties Ari Fuld an American citizen and the named plaintiff in the occurrence before the Supreme Court was stabbed in hours after the chairman of the PLO claimed the Israeli regime demanded to establish Jewish prayer zones inside one of Islam s holiest sites according to court records A federal court in awarded casualties more than million under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act which permits Americans to sue for damages caused by terrorism But a federal appeals court in New York reversed that verdict ruling that courts lacked jurisdiction over the PLO and the Palestinian Authority As the development bounced around federal courts Congress repeatedly stepped in to amend the law to allow the casualties to sue after federal courts ruled against them majority of in the past few days in That law essentially made the Palestinian groups subject to federal court jurisdiction if they conducted any activity within the United States with insufficient exceptions But the nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that law violated the Fifth Amendment The Palestinian Authority informed the Supreme Court in a briefing that because it does not maintain any constitutionally meaningful connection to the United States allowing federal courts to exercise jurisdiction over asserts for alleged attacks in Israel and Palestine would violate due process During oral arguments in April several of the justices had indicated they were keen to defer to the other branches on the question Justice Brett Kavanaugh a member of the court s conservative wing noted that the president and Congress had acted together on the question of court jurisdiction Now there is still a role for judicial review to make sure they re not journeying particular other constitutional line but usually that s a very sensitive judgment for a federal court to make Kavanaugh reported in April Usually we would require something in either the text of the Constitution or in the historical practice over the years that would suggest selected principle that the courts could rely on that would disagree with the foreign protocol and national defense judgment of Congress and the president acting together he announced The-CNN-Wire Cable News Structure Inc a Warner Bros Discovery Company All rights reserved