Anthony J. Colangelo

The Frankenstein’s Monster of Extraterritoriality Law

The judge-made presumption against extraterritoriality has recently become a motley patchwork of eccentric and sometimes contradictory doctrines seemingly stitched together for one, and only one, mission: to deprive plaintiffs the right to sue in U.S. courts for harms suffered abroad. It lumbers along, blithely squashing precedent, principle, statutory text, and legislative intent—all to heed its abiding and single-minded obsession. The Supreme Court has so far mangled the scope of the Securities Exchange Act and the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), and, in RJR Nabisco v. European Community, has placed another statute—The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)—on the chopping block. The major surgery performed was amputating RICO’s private right of action for extraterritorial offenses and replacing it with a much stubbier appendage limited to injuries suffered on U.S. territory.