Supreme Court to review lawsuit from terrorism victims against Palestinian Authority
The US Supreme Court is seen on the first day of a new term in Washington
By John Fritze, CNN
(CNN) — The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether the families of victims of terrorist attacks in Israel may sue the Palestinian Authority in federal court for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases: one from family members who sued the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the other from the Biden administration, which is siding with those families.
At issue are a series of deadly attacks inside Israel that date to the Second Intifada in the early 2000s. The case is not directly related to – but will take place in the shadow of – the current conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas.
In one of the cases now before the justices, a federal court in 2015 awarded victims more than $650 million under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act, which permits Americans to sue for damages caused by terrorism.
But the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that verdict, ruling that courts lacked jurisdiction over the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority.
The Supreme Court declined to review that decision in 2018, but Congress then enacted a law in 2019 that allowed the plaintiffs to haul the Palestinian groups into court.
As the litigation continued, lower courts ruled that the new law violated the equal protection clause. The Biden administration intervened to defend the law, and the administration appealed to the Supreme Court in August.
The plaintiffs described the 2nd Circuit decision as “more than dangerous” and “flat wrong.”
The Palestinian Authority told 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 claims “for alleged attacks in Israel and Palestine would violate due process.”
The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the spring and hand down a decision before July.
The-CNN-Wire
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