The Alien Tort Claims Act: Theoretical and Historical Foundations of the Alien Tort Claims Act and Its Discontents: A Reality Check

Authors

Ralph G. Steinhardt, The George Washington University Law School

First Page

585

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This essay offers an overview of the ATCA (Aline Tort Claims Act), including its origins and early history as well as its contemporary use (and limits) as a tool for victims and survivors of human rights abuse to seek compensation from their abusers when they can be found in the United States. The essay also distinguishes between the reasonable and the unreasonable attacks on the ATCA, which have become especially strident in the last few years, with the Bush Administration breaking strongly with prior administrations in the interpretation of the act. The current attack on the statute rests on a profoundly misleading caricature of its meaning and its effects; indeed, some of the most virulent attacks rest not on actual decisions under Section 1350 but on a handful of cases that have been either filed and dismissed, or filed and not yet dismissed, or simply imagined. The current critique may also be viewed as part of a larger attack on tort actions generally and the class action mechanism in particular, and therefore better targeted at controversial product liability actions, like the asbestos litigation, than the handful of successful cases under the ATCA.

Recommended Citation

Ralph G. Steinhardt, The Alien Tort Claims Act: Theoretical and Historical Foundations of the Alien Tort Claims Act and Its Discontents: A Reality Check, 16 St. Thomas L. Rev. 585 (2004).
Available at: https://scholarship.stu.edu/stlr/vol16/iss4/2