The Biden administration is urging the Supreme Court to uphold a 2019 law that would allow Americans injured by acts of terror to sue the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) for damages.
In a petition filed to the court Tuesday, the Justice Department asked the justices to hear its appeal of a lower court decision that found the law violated constitutional due process protections under the Fifth Amendment—a finding that the government argued “undermines Congress’s judgment” and “rests on a series of legal errors.”
“There is nothing unfair or unreasonable about deeming respondents to consent to jurisdiction in the United States if they carry on activities in this country or make payments that reward or incentivize acts of terrorism harming U.S. nationals,” the petition reads.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued that the constitutionality of law mattered not only to the plaintiffs in the underlying cases but also to “the United States’ efforts to combat and deter terrorism.”
It is unclear whether the upholding of the law would allow for the families of American victims of the October 7 Hamas attack to sue the PA or PLO. If the Supreme Court reverses the lower court decision to affirm the law’s constitutionality, it could potentially open the door for lawsuits related to the events that have since followed if plaintiffs can show the PA or PLO’s involvement or material support for an attack.
Newsweek reached out to the Justice Department via email for comment.
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The Supreme Court petition comes amid the war in Gaza, which began after the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel. Tensions in the Middle East have continued to spur protests in the U.S. as pro-Palestinian demonstrators have accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people.
The conflict has also become part of the backdrop behind which Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will face off in November. The pro-Palestine movement had been a thorn in President Joe Biden’s side, with Arab Americans and young voters threatening to withhold their votes for him in protest of his support for Israel.
Those efforts have carried into Harris’ campaign. Last week, Harris was heckled by activists calling for the U.S. to issue an arms embargo against Israel. Organizers previously told Newsweek they also plan to protest at next week’s Democratic National Convention.
In Tuesday’s petition, the Biden administration pointed to two cases where Palestinian leaders were sued by Americans under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act. The first involved 11 American families who sued the PA and PLO two decades ago for various attacks in Israel, including a Hamas bombing in Jerusalem in July 2002. The plaintiffs won $655.5 million at trial in 2015.
The second case was brought by the wife and children of Ari Fuld, an Israeli American who was fatally stabbed outside a West Bank shopping mall in 2018.
Instead of suing the murderer, who was apprehended by Israeli authorities, the family was seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from the PA. Fuld’s family already appealed to the Supreme Court last month and received supporting briefs from House leadership in both parties.
