
Huquqyat member Alreem Kamal published an academic article on the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and the presumption against extraterritoriality published in the New York University Journal of International Law and Politics. The article argues that neither international law nor U.S. foreign relations law justifies the retention of the presumption against extraterritoriality to the ATS. While initially applied to preserve the nation’s compliance with international norms, the presumption appears to have been repurposed for ends unrelated to its original usage. As states across the world pursue perpetrators or facilitators of atrocities and human rights violations irrespective of the place of their commission, the U.S. Supreme Court maintains a regressive approach in curtailing the reach of the ATS.
More information can be found here: https://www.nyujilp.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Kamal.pdf