Supreme Court bars ATS lawsuit against Cisco

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that American corporations cannot be sued in U.S. courts for allegedly aiding foreign governments in human rights abuses, dismissing a long-running lawsuit against Cisco Systems. The 6-3 decision, which split along ideological lines, represents a significant narrowing of a centuries-old law and effectively closes a major legal pathway for victims of overseas atrocities to seek accountability from U.S. companies.

The case centered on a 2011 lawsuit filed by members of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned by the Chinese government in 1999. The plaintiffs alleged that Cisco knowingly designed and implemented a nationwide internet surveillance system, known as the Golden Shield, which Chinese authorities used to identify, track, detain, and torture Falun Gong practitioners. Cisco has consistently denied the allegations, calling them unfounded and offensive.

Writing for the majority, Justice Amy Coney Barrett held that federal courts lack the authority to create new causes of action under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), an 18th-century law that had been used since the 1980s to bring international human rights cases. The opinion stated that the...