Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe · ¶92
Contemporaneous legal sources discussing international incidents that transpired shortly after Congress passed the ATS further support Sosa’s holding. In 1792, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Attorney General Edmund Randolph each issued an opinion addressing incidents in which Americans entered Spanish Florida and French Haiti, abducted slaves, and returned them to the United States. See T. Jefferson, Opinion on Offenses Against the Law of Nations (Dec. 3, 1792), in 24 The Papers of Thomas Jefferson 693–696 (J. Catanzariti ed. 1990) (Jefferson Opinion); E. Randolph, Opinion on Offenses Against the Law of Nations (Dec. 5, 1792), in 24 id., at 702–703 (Randolph Opinion). Both agreed that federal courts could hear civil suits relating to these incidents under the ATS. Jefferson wrote that the ATS would cover any suit by “an alien . . . for a tort only,” Jefferson Opinion 694…Read in context ›
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