International Human Rights Litigations in U.S. Courts

Of value to human rights litigators and activists, this manual provides a step-by-step practical guide to handling lawsuits in the United States for human rights abuses committed in other countries. The authors fully cover the relevant statutory law and jurisprudence, especially the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act. They also discuss the thornier issues that often arise in such cases, including problems of jurisdiction and immunity, choice of law and sources of international law.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
The Statutory Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxix
A Note About Citations and Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxi
About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxiii
PART I: THE ALIEN TORT STATUTE (ATS) . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1: The Alien Tort Statute (ATS): From 1789 to
Fila´rtiga, Sosa, and Beyond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 2: Understanding the Alien Tort Statute (ATS): The
Analytic Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 3: Plaintiffs, Defendants, and Violations in Alien Tort
Statute (ATS) Suits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
PART II: OTHER BASES FOR SUIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Chapter 4: The Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA) . . . . . . 75
Chapter 5: Jurisdiction Over States: The Foreign Sovereign
Immunities Act (FSIA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Chapter 6: Other Grounds for Human Rights Litigation . . . . . . 103
PART III: ACTIONABLE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS . . . 129
Chapter 7: Historical Paradigms, Modern Violations . . . . . . . . 131
Chapter 8: Treaty Violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
PART IV: PARTIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Chapter 9: The Plaintiff: Who Can Sue? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Chapter 10: Who Can Be Sued I: Personal Jurisdiction and
Theories of Liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Chapter 11: Who Can Be Sued II: U.S. and Local Government
Defendants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Chapter 12: Who Can Be Sued III: Corporations . . . . . . . . . . 309
PART V: DEFENSES AND IMMUNITIES . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Chapter 13: Foreign Affairs and Separation of Powers . . . . . . . 337
Chapter 14: Immunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Chapter 15: Miscellaneous Defences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
Chapter 16: The Role of the Executive Branch . . . . . . . . . . . 411
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PART VI: LITIGATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Chapter 17: Preparing and Filing a Manageable Case . . . . . . . . 441
Chapter 18: After the Complaint Is Filed and Served . . . . . . . . 461
Chapter 19: Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Chapter 20: Proving a Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
Chapter 21: Remedies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
PART VII: HISTORICAL JUSTICE CLAIMS . . . . . . . . . . 541
Chapter 22: Historical Justice Claims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
Statutory Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
Table of International Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587
Table of Cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611