The 1789 Alien Tort Statute and Human Rights Abuses Today

Panel Discussion on the US Supreme Court Kiobel Case by Distinguished Litigators and Scholars

Presented by the Federalist Society International Law and National Security Practice Group and the Orange County Lawyers Chapter

The US Supreme Court has asked for expanded briefs and reargument in the Kiobel vs. Royal Dutch Petroleum case. At issue is the right to sue in U.S. courts for human rights abuses — including torture — carried out in other countries under the 1789 Alien Tort Statute (28 U.S.C. § 1350). This case has implications for corporations, including multi-national firms, as well as for political organizations, that are accused of violating the rights of individuals under international or U.S. law. Also, potentially at issue is whether a party that is being sued can be challenged not for directly engaging in human rights abuses, but for “aiding and abetting” someone else who did so.

When: Thursday, June 21, 11:30 a.m. (registration), 11:45 am (lunch).  The discussion will start promptly at 11:45am and continue to  1:15pm to cover discussion and Q and A.

Where:    Second Floor Knobbe Conference Center, 2040 Main Street, Irvine, CA 92614 (949) 760-0404 
Parking:    Please park in the parking structure near the 2040 building and bring your ticket to lunch for validation.  Click here for directions.

Cost: $35 for lunch and 1 hour of MCLE credit. (The Federalist Society is a California State Bar approved provider of MCLE)

RSVP and Pay: To RSVP and pay by credit card, click the Buy Now button on the right. To pay by cash or check at the door, please send the RSVP to Joseph W. Haney III at jhaney@haney-law.com.  Make checks payable to “The Federalist Society”.

Panelists:

Anton Metlitsky is counsel in O’Melveny’s New York office and a member of the Appellate Practice. He works on appellate and complex litigation matters. Anton has drafted trial and appellate briefs, both civil and criminal, on subjects including federal constitutional law, federal criminal law, federal jurisdiction and procedure, administrative law, international and foreign affairs law, antitrust, trademark, and federal preemption. Anton has also presented oral argument in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  Anton was a law clerk to the Honorable John G. Roberts Jr., US Supreme Court and Honorable Merrick Garland, US Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit and is admitted to practice in the US Court of Appeals, Second, Seventh, Ninth, and District of Columbia Circuits.
Publications: “Indirect Purchaser Standing In Federal Court: Take 2” (co-authors Ken O'Rourke and Mark Davies), Law360 (October 12, 2009); Note, “How Clear is Clear in Chevron’s Step One?” 118 Harv. L. Rev. 1687 (2005) 
Litigated: Sarei et al v. Rio Tinto Plc et al (defended Rio Tinto) and Doe VIII v. Exxon Mobile Corporation

Donald Kochan is Associate Professor of Law at Chapman University School of Law. Immediately before coming to Chapman in 2004 he was an Olin Research Fellow and Instructor in Law at the University of Virginia School of Law for the 2003-2004 academic year. During 2002-2003, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law where he taught courses in Property and Environmental Law; and, during the summer of 2007, he was a visiting Professor at the University of Houston Law Center. Professor Kochan received his Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School (1998), where he was a John M. Olin Scholar in Law and Economics and managing editor of the Cornell International Law Journal. He also served as editor and executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy symposium issues in 1997 and 1998. He received his B.A. from Western Michigan University (1995), with majors in political science and philosophy. After graduating from law school, ProfeThursday, June 21ssor Kochan was a law clerk to The Honorable Richard F. Suhrheinrich of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Following his clerkship, Professor Kochan was an associate with the firm of Crowell and Moring LLP in Washington, D.C., where he specialized in Natural Resources and Environmental Law.

Publications: "No Longer Little Known But Now a Door Ajar: An Overview of the Evolving and Dangerous Role of the Alien Tort Statute in Human Rights and International Law Jurisprudence", "Constitutional Structure as a Limitation on the Scope of the Law of Nations in the Alien Tort Claims Act", and "Legal Mechanization of Corporate Social Responsibility Through Alien Tort Statute Litigation"

Michael J. Bazyler is Professor of Law and The "1939" Club Law Scholar in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California. He is also a research fellow at the Holocaust Education Trust in London; and the holder of previous fellowships at Harvard Law School and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. In Fall 2006, he was a Research Fellow at  Yad Vashem in Jerusalem (The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority of Israel) and the holder of the Baron Friedrich Carl von Oppenheim Chair for the Study of Racism, Antisemitism and the Holocaust.   Bazyler is the author of over a dozen law review articles on subjects covering public international law, international human rights law, international trade law and comparative law. His work has been published in such journals as The University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Kansas Law Review, Arizona Law Review, Northwestern Law Review, University of Richmond Law Review, Stanford Journal of International Law, Berkeley Journal of International Law, Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, and Fordham Journal of International Law.  After twenty-five years of teaching at Whittier Law School, Bazyler joined the Chapman law faculty in Fall, 2008. Over his 27-year law teaching career, Bazyler has been a visiting professor, including a distinguished visiting professor, at various law schools in the United States, Australia, Russia, Belarus, and Israel. He teaches Comparative Law, Public International Law, International Human Rights Law, International Business Litigation, International Business Transactions, Criminal Law, Torts, Civil Procedure and a course he created entitled The Holocaust, Genocide and the Law.

Publication in Law.com: "Hold corporations accountable" - Nuremberg-era jurisprudence offers a compelling precedent for imposing sanctions on companies for human rights violations, as in the 'Kiobel' case before the high court.

Moderator:

Professor Michael D. Ramsey teaches and writes in the areas of Constitutional Law, Foreign Relations Law and International Business Law at the University of San Diego School of Law.  He is the author of The Constitution's Text in Foreign Affairs (Harvard Univ. Press, 2007) and of numerous articles in leading scholarly journals, including "Textualism and War Powers" (Chicago Law Review, 2002) and "The Executive Power over Foreign Affairs" (with Professor Saikrishna Prakash) (Yale Law Journal, 2001). Ramsey received the 1998 Thorsnes Prize for excellence in teaching, and the 2002 and 2007 Thorsnes Prizes for outstanding scholarship. He has taught as a visiting professor for the University of California, San Diego, Department of Political Science and for the University of Paris-Sorbonne, Department of Comparative Law. Before joining the USD faculty in 1995, he served as a law clerk to Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court, and practiced international business law with the firm of Latham & Watkins. Ramsey is a summa cum laude graduate of Stanford Law School, where he served as senior articles editor of the Stanford Journal of International Law.