The case centers on a group of U.S. citizens injured in terrorist attacks in Israel who sued the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority under the Anti-Terrorism Act. After a seven-week trial in 2015, a jury awarded the plaintiffs $655.5 million in damages. However, the Second Circuit vacated that judgment in 2016, finding the district court lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendants.
District Judge John G. Koeltl, sitting by designation, explained that the Supreme Court's decision in Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization established that "the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment necessarily permits a more flexible jurisdictional inquiry commensurate with the Federal Government's broader sovereign authority." The court found Congress's 2019 Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act provided constitutional grounds for jurisdiction based on the defendants' post-enactment conduct, including payments to families of imprisoned terrorists.
The case has bounced between courts for nearly a decade after the Second Circuit's initial 2016 ruling. Congress twice enacted new legislation attempting to establish jurisdiction over the PLO and PA, first with the 2018 Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act and then the 2019 PSJVTA. The Supreme Court ultimately reversed the Second Circuit's constitutional analysis in its recent Fuld decision, leading to Wednesday's ruling.
The decision reinstates one of the largest terrorism judgments in U.S. history and could have broader implications for how federal courts exercise jurisdiction over foreign entities in national security cases. The defendants had argued they were entitled to a new trial based on allegedly improper expert testimony, but the court rejected those claims. The case began in 2004, with some original plaintiffs having died during the lengthy litigation process.