The Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court to uphold a 2019 law that would allow the legal cases of victims of terrorism against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to move forward.
It adds new weight to an existing appeal already filed in the high court that has drawn support from House leadership in both parties and several senators.
The question is whether victims can take the PA and PLO to U.S. courts under the Federal Anti-Terrorism Act, which provides Americans injured by acts of terrorism an avenue to sue for damages.
In response to a series of court rulings dismissing such cases for lack of personal jurisdiction, Congress in 2019 passed a law establishing that federal courts had the authority to hear lawsuits against the PA and PLO.
The Biden administration’s petition, which was filed on Monday, urges the Supreme Court to accept its appeal of a lower ruling that found the law violated constitutional due process protections under 5the Amendment.
“This due process decision is incorrect and undermines Congress’s judgment that the[law] is an important measure to advance U.S. interests and protect and compensate U.S. citizens,” the petition read.
The Biden administration intervened in two underlying cases brought by U.S. citizens injured in terrorist attacks or their survivors to defend the 2019 law.
In the first case, a group of 11 American families originally sued the PA and PLO two decades ago for several terrorist attacks in Israel, winning $655.5 million at trial in 2015. The second case was brought by Ari’s wife and children. Fuld, an Israeli-American stabbed to death in a West Bank shopping mall in 2018.
Fuld’s family already appealed to the Supreme Court last month and the case has received bipartisan support.
The Chamber filed a brief friend of the court with authorization from House leadership in both parties, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.).
“If this latest decision is upheld, American victims of international terrorism will be unlikely to be able to stand trial and foreign terrorists will not need to worry about civil trials that will drain their resources. Yet these are exactly the policy goals that Congress has consistently tried to promote,” he said.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo filed a similar petitionas well as abipartisan group of legislators: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Sen. -Del.) and Rep. Jerry Nadler (DN.Y.).
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
