The Corner

“Cowboy Law Professors”

Point of Law’s James Copland adds his thoughts on the Sosa decision (which I discuss here). I totally agree that many “cowboy law professors” see the decision as a green light to use federal courts to go after multinational corporations and foreign governments for their alleged overseas misdeeds. But I remain somewhat skeptical that Sosa should be read thus. Justice Breyer concurred to note his concern that such suits could interfere with foreign policy, and I suspect that in the appropriate case another Justice could be convinced that federal courts are not the proper fora for such disputes until Congress determines otherwise. (And I hope this isn’t just wishful thinking on my part.)

Jonathan H. Adler is the Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law and the director of the Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
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