The Supreme Court on Tuesday decided on two religious freedom cases, in a pair of 6-3 rulings.
In a victory for tech giant Cisco, the Supreme Court held Tuesday that a company or entity cannot be held liable for aiding and abetting a violation of an anti-torture law. Members of China’s Falun Gong movement claimed that Cisco cooperated with the Chinese communist government’s persecution of the movement.
The court ruled in the case of Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Doe that courts can’t create a new cause of action under the Alien Tort Statute. Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the majority.
“Courts may not create new causes of action for violations of international norms,” Barrett wrote for the majority. She later added, “The power to create causes of action belongs to Congress.”
The Falun Gong spiritual movement spread in China in the 1990s, but the Chinese Communist Party banned its practices in 1999. Members of the movement brought the lawsuit against Cisco in 2011.
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