Unique ruling authority

Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain

542 U.S. 692 · U.S. Supreme Court

Stable case ID: case:sosa-2004
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision date: 2004
Authority level: U.S. Supreme Court
Precedential status: precedential
Verification-state description: authoritative_text_identified; pinpoint_and_currentness_review_required

Holding and boundaries

Allowed only a narrow category of well-defined international-law norms to support Alien Tort Statute claims.

Scope and limitations: Federal courts must exercise restraint; the ATS is jurisdictional and does not create a broad cause of action.

Open authoritative source

0 issue placements

Publication and provenance

The authority is published once; issue-specific orientation and fit remain separate placements. Analogue, contextual, and historical-adverse fits are not represented as controlling.

Published under research-publication-clearance-2026-07-21. deterministic validation and objective verification are not claimed.