Gordon Chang, Gatestone Institute senior fellow, disputes President Donald Trump's assertion of China's neutrality in the Iran conflict.
TheSupreme Courton Tuesday issued a ruling that limits the use of a federal law to hold U.S. corporations liable for human rights abuses abroad when it dismissed a lawsuit. accused Cisco Systems of aiding the Chinese government's religious persecution of the Falun Gong movement.
The 6-3 ruling reversed a lower court's decision. had allowed a lawsuit filed by Falun Gong members in 2011 under the Alien Tort Statute of 1789.
The suit alleged that Cisco knowingly developed technology that enabled China's government to surveil and persecute Falun Gong members.
The Alien Tort Statute had been effectively dormant for nearly 200 years before lawyers started to use it in the 1980s to bring internationalhuman rightscases,. the Cisco suit questioned whether it can be used to hold corporations liable if they "aid and abet" human rights abuses through "accomplice liability."
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The Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit accusing Cisco of aiding the persecution of Falun Gong in China.(Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)
The Falun Gong movement was founded in China in 1992,. was banned by theChinese Communist Party(CCP) in 1999, after thousands of the group's members appeared at the central leadership compound in Beijing to stage a silent protest. The group has called for its members to denounce the CCP. has been heavily critical of its leadership in China.
Justice Amy Coney Barrettauthored the majority opinion which supported Cisco's argument that the law doesn't support holding companies liable for aiding. abetting human rights abuses.
"Courts cannot create new rights of action to remedy violations of international law, so there is necessarily no liability for aiding. abetting such violations," Barrett wrote as the rulingdismissed the claimsagainst Cisco.
The Supreme Court's ruling split the justices along ideological lines, with the six conservative justices in the majority. the three liberals dissenting.
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The Falun Gong movement is critical of the Chinese Communist Party. its members face persecution in China.(Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
Paul Hoffman, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said they were disappointed with the ruling. called forCongressto take action and create a law "so that victims of serious human rights violations at the hands of U.S. corporations may hold those corporations accountable in U.S. courts under the Alien Tort Statute."
Additionally, the Supreme Court issued an 8-1 decision that a similar law known as the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 didn't permit a group of plaintiffs to move forward with a lawsuit that sought to hold two Cisco executives liable for allegedly aiding. abetting torture.
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Cisco called the allegations against them unfounded and offensive.(David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Plaintiffs accused Cisco of knowingly designing. implementing the "Golden Shield," which is aninternet surveillancesystem used by the CCP to target dissidents, and they say China used the system to track and torture Falun Gong members.
FOX Business reached out to Cisco for comment. The company has called the allegations unfounded and offensive.
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The decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that was reversed by the Supreme Court had held the plaintiffs demonstrated plausible claims that Cisco provided technical assistance to the CCP. permitted it to proceed to discovery in advance of a trial. The Supreme Court's decision dismissed the lawsuit.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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