Supreme Court to Weigh US Citizens’ Palestinian Authority Suits

The Supreme Court agreed to consider whether US citizens injured or killed in terror attacks abroad can sue the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority in the United States.

The justices on Friday said they would review a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit finding that the latest attempt by Congress to bring the PLO and Palestinian Authority within the reach of US courts for attacks abroad was unconstitutional.

The Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act of 2019 says that those organizations are deemed to have consented to jurisdiction in US courts if they continue making payments to terrorists or their families, or undertake certain activities within the US.

The Second Circuit said those activities, which the groups had allegedly already been engaged in, aren’t the kinds of things that usually imply consent.

“Congress cannot, by legislative fiat, simply ‘deem’ activities to be ‘consent’ when the activities themselves cannot plausibly be construed as such,” the Second Circuit said.

The cases involve long-running suits like the one brought by the family of Ari Yoel Fuld, a US citizen who was fatally stabbed during a September 2018 terror attack in the West Bank.

The cases are Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization, U.S., No. 24-20 and U.S. v. Palestine Liberation Organization, U.S., No. 24-151.