Notes and Questions
1. What interest does the United States have in the adjudication in U.S.
courts of claims by foreign plaintiffs against foreign defendants over events
that happened outside the United States?
2. Could the Filartiga plaintiffs have sued Paraguay in addition to Pena?
A later case established that plaintiffs cannot sue a foreign state under the
ATS. In Argentine Republic v. Amerada Hess, 488 U.S. 428 (1989), the
Supreme Court held that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA)
provides the sole basis for obtaining jurisdiction over foreign states and
their instrumentalities in U.S. courts. The FSIA is explored in Chapter 6.
