How a Country Treats its Citizens No longer Exclusive Domestic Concern

Over the last twenty-five years some aliens presentwithin the United States have initiated actionagainst other aliens for crimes transgressing the lawof nations committed abroad. This trajectory isconsidered by some as progress in international law,since only a few decades earlier this body of lawconcerned itself exclusively with the relations amongindependent states. Therefore the ability to employinternational instruments for the advancement ofindividual human rights is perhaps a cause celebre.But this growing practice has also generated asignificant controversy and opposition. What isinternational law or the law of nations? Under whatauthority do United States Courts entertain disputesconcerning a foreign sovereign s treatment of its owncitizens under its own laws? The Judiciary Act of1789 which created the Alien Tort Statute, arelatively obscure piece of legislation is at thecenter of these actions. But what was the originalintent of the Alien Tort Statute? Is this an elusivegoal or is it possible to reconstruct the meaning ofthat statute?... Mehr