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An Alien by Any Other Name: Debunking a New Attempt to Re-Write the Original Language of the Alien Tort Statute

by

Richard Herz

&

Lorraine Leete

Responding to M. Anderson Berry, Whether Foreigner or Alien: A New Look at the Original Language of the Alien Tort Statute, 27 Berkeley J. of Int’l. L. 316 (2009).*

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 Introduction

The Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”) grants federal district courts jurisdiction over claims by an “alien” for torts committed in violation of the law of nations.[1] The statute was enacted in 1789 as part of the First Judiciary Act.[2] Since 1980, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided Filartiga v. Pena-Irala,[3] the law has been used by victims of egregious human rights abuses to seek redress from the officials who committed or commanded those who committed such abuses.[4] More recently, victims have filed ATS suits against corporations alleged to be complicit in horrific human rights violations.[5] Many, if not most, ATS cases have been filed by non-resident aliens harmed in their home countries.[6] 

Short Order Rule of Law: A Role for the Short-Term Consultant

by

Stephen A. Rosenbaum*

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Introduction

With honor and humility I accepted an invitation from the U.S. State Department to participate as a technical advisor in a weeklong rule of law[1] seminar in Togo, with attorneys, judges, law professors and students. My modest mission was to explain various models for delivery of free legal services and assist in developing proposals for establishing a bar association pro bono program in conjunction with the nation’s principal law school at the Université de Lomé.

When the State Department first invited me to participate in its speaker specialist program, I admit that for me it was all about having a glimpse of an otherwise inaccessible part of the world and the attendant cultural, professional and intellectual exchange. Only after my initial program visit did I become familiar with the concept of “rule of law” (l'état de droit), as well as the related concepts of access to justice and the law and development movement.[2] This was to be the focus of my journey to Togo.