Supreme Court delivers major win to victims of terrorism

More than six years after a Jewish American was killed in a politically motivated attack in the West Bank, the Supreme Court has finally opened up a pathway for his family to seek justice in the U.S.

On Friday, the Supreme Court handed down a unanimous decision that upheld a 2019 law meant to combat terrorism and to allow victims to take legal action against two Palestinian groups, the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, according to the Wall Street Journal.

'Congress and the President made a considered judgment to subject the PLO and PA to liability in U.S. courts as part of a comprehensive legal response to "halt, deter, and disrupt" acts of international terrorism that threaten the life and limb of American citizens.'

This law, the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act, "deems the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority — if they engage in specified conduct — to have consented to personal jurisdiction in civil suits brought in the United States under the Antiterrorism Act," the opinion stated.

The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that this act does not violate the Due Process clause of the Fifth Amendment for these groups. To state this positively, the case rules that these Palestinian organizations do consent to personal jurisdiction in civil suits brought in the United States.

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Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, emphasized that the intent of the law is aligned with the government's broader foreign policy agenda to combat terrorism and to protect American citizens: "In respectively passing and signing the PSJVTA into law, Congress and the President made a considered judgment to subject the PLO and PA to liability in U.S. courts as part of a comprehensive legal response to 'halt, deter, and disrupt' acts of international terrorism that threaten the life and limb of American citizens."

The decision overturns the 2022 opinion of a lower court by U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan, who previously deemed the PSJVTA to be unconstitutional and dismissed the case brought on behalf of Ari Fuld, according to a 2022 article by Reuters.

This prior case was brought against the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority by members of Ari Fuld's family. Fuld was fatally stabbed in 2018 in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. While Furman described the case for justice for Ari Fuld as "morally compelling," he nevertheless dismissed the case on the grounds that the 2019 law was unconstitutional.

This most recent decision is a major step forward for these families to hold these organizations accountable for American victims of terror in the Middle East.

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