On February 28, 2012, the Supreme Court heard two cases that will determine whether corporations can be sued for their complicity in torture, crimes against humanity, and other human rights abuses. These cases have profound implications for the future of corporate accountability in the United States. We all know that the Supreme Court has already decided that corporations have rights just like human beings - now the court must decide whether corporations also have the same responsibilities, or whether a corporation is only a "person" when it benefits the company. However, on March 5, 2012, the Court ordered one of the cases, Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, to be re-briefed later this spring and re-argued in fall 2012.

Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum is a case alleging that Royal Dutch/Shell (Shell oil) was complicit in crimes against humanity in Nigeria in the 1990s, when numerous Nigerians from the Ogoni region were killed and tortured for their opposition to oil activities in their territory and criticism of Shell. Shell allegedly collaborated with the Nigerian military regime to commit these abuses, and the victims sued in federal court under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that corporations could not be sued for human rights abuses under the ATS, which allows suits for universally-recognized violations of international law.

Mohamad v. Palestinian Authority is a case charging that agents of the Palestinian Authority tortured and killed a U.S. citizen in the West Bank. His family sued under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), which Congress passed to allow U.S. citizens to sue for torture, but the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that organizations (including corporations) could not be sued under the TVPA.

On April 18, 2012, the Supreme Court ruled in Mohamad that the TVPA does not allow suits against corporations and other organizations who contribute to such abuses. The unanimous decision, which comes scarcely two years after the high court ruled in Citizens United v. FEC that corporations have the same rights as human beings to spend money to influence elections, has further outraged activist groups across the country. Read the decision here. Read our statement here.

Corporate Accountability Now is a coalition of groups supporting the idea that corporations should be held responsible in U.S. courts for violations of international human rights law.