Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe · ¶19
To justify this conclusion, Sosa reasoned that the First Congress would not have expected the ATS to “l[ie] fallow” until Congress or state legislatures enacted causes of action for violations of the law of nations. Id., at 719. Law-ofnations offenses formed part of “the ambient law of the era,” and some “were understood to be within the common law.” Id., at 714, 720. William Blackstone’s legal treatise discussed three: “violation of safe conducts, infringement of the rights of ambassadors, and piracy.” Id., at 715 (citing 4 Commentaries on the Laws of England 68 (1769)). Given this history, Sosa “assume[d] that the First Congress understood that the district courts would recognize private causes of action for certain torts in violation of the law of nations.” 542 U. S., at 724. But Sosa “found no basis to suspect Congress had any examples in mind beyond those torts corresponding to…Read in context ›
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