The Supreme Court dismisses a lawsuit that accused Cisco Systems of providing technology used to persecute Falun Gong practitioners in China.Plaintiffs, Chinese nationals who say they were imprisoned and tortured, brought claims under the Alien Tort Statute and the Torture Victim Protection Act alleging that Cisco helped build the "Golden Shield" surveillance system.The case traces to documents from 2008 and a 2011 complaint and was revived by the Ninth Circuit in 2023 after plaintiffs argued a substantial US nexus, and the Trump administration previously sided with Cisco.Justice
Amy Coney Barrett writes the majority that bars the suit from proceeding while Justice
Sonia Sotomayor dissents, and the ruling significantly narrows avenues to hold US companies accountable for alleged overseas human rights abuses.