New comment on Kiobel: The United States Can’t Be the World’s Courthouse by Eric Posner

Eric Posner, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, has written an essay on the Supreme Court's decision in Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum in which he argues the Court made the right decision.  It starts as follows:

...Last week’s 9-0 Supreme Court ruling in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum has finally put an end to [litigation in which foreigners bring suits in U.S. courts against other foreigners, for human rights violations in foreign countries.] Human rights groups complain that the decision means that foreign governments and corporations will be able to violate human rights with impunity. But cases like Kiobel, in which a group of Nigerians sued a Nigerian corporation and its Dutch and British corporate parents over their role in human rights abuses in Nigeria, never led to real human rights enforcement. In more than 30 years of litigation involving hundreds of cases, hardly any money went to victims. The Supreme Court got rid of a popular but unworkable idea that U.S. courts can be used to police behavior around the world.

 You can read the full article here.