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About this Book
This unique book addresses the legal interpretations and practical implications of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which has become the primary vehicle for international human rights litigation in United States courts in the last thirty years.
The book places the Alien Tort Statute in perspective, from its original enactment as a jurisdictional statute in 1789, through its evolution into a vehicle for human rights litigation. It includes in-depth analysis of the legal decisions that have been handed down with respect to its interpretation and application, and describes the theoretical issues, practical considerations, and anticipated prospective development of the statute. It also examines the relationship between the Alien Tort Statute and two issues which have received particular attention during the Bush administration: the use of torture by United States officials and the practice of extraordinary rendition.
There has been an explosion of new cases filed under the Alien Tort Statute. International human rights cases are no longer the province of advocacy and not-for-profit organizations: such cases may now be brought by a much broader spectrum of plaintiffs' lawyers. With its extensive historical commentary and independent legal analysis, Human Rights and the Alien Tort Statute is an invaluable reference for both experienced ATS litigators and lawyers interested in international human rights.
What Others Are Saying
"Whether you are a trial lawyer representing plaintiffs or defendants in the expanding field of ATS litigation or a federal judge faced with deciding the complex jurisdictional and immunity questions which such litigation presents, you will want a copy of Peter Henner's Human Rights and the Alien Tort Statute. In this readable, lucid and logically organized text, Peter Henner has covered it all from the history of the Alien Tort Statute's enactment in 1789 to recent efforts to bring cases against the United States. Peter Henner and the ABA Center for Human Rights deserve much credit and many thanks for making this authoritative and very usable reference book available."
Hon. Stewart F. Hancock, Jr. Retired Associate Judge, New York State Court of Appeals
"The Alien Tort Statute, enacted in 1789, lay mostly dormant until 1980, when a Second Circuit decision interpreted it to open the federal courts to victims of torture perpetrated in violation of international law. Through his careful analysis of the cases that followed in the ensuing decades, Peter Henner demonstrates the importance of the ATS litigation that ensued in the decades that followed in the development of international human rights law, the enactment of the Torture Victims Protection Act in 1992 culminating in the Supreme Court's recognition of ATS jurisdiction in 2004. Henner places these developments in their deeper historical context and frames the intense scholarly and judicial debate that surrounded them. In a decade that has seen agents of the United States itself accused of torture, Henner's important work shows how existing law offers a remedy for our own wrongs, and not just the wrongs of others."
Bruce Kraus Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP New York, NY
