Summary: <p>Should the U.S. Supreme Court be the court of the world? In the 18th century, two feuding Frenchmen inspired a one-sentence law that helped launch American human rights litigation into the 20th century. The Alien Tort Statute allowed a Paraguayan woman to find justice for a terrible crime committed in her homeland. But as America reached further and further out into the world, the court was forced to confront the contradictions in our country’s ideology: sympathy vs. sovereignty. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard arguments in <em>Jesner v. Arab Bank</em>, a case that could reshape the way America responds to human rights abuses abroad. Does the A.T.S. secure human rights or is it a dangerous overreach?</p> <p><em>Additional music for this episode by <a href="http://www.nicholascarter.com/">Nicolas Carter</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Special thanks to William J. Aceves, William Baude, Diego Calles, Alana Casanova-Burgess, William Dodge, Susan Farbstein, Jeffery Fisher, Joanne Freeman, Julian Ku, Nicholas Rosenkranz, Susan Simpson, Emily Vinson, Benjamin Wittes and Jamison York. Ken Saro-Wiwa Jr., who appears in this episode, passed away in October 2016</em><em>.</em></p> <p><em>Supreme Court archival audio comes from <a href="https://www.oyez.org/">Oyez®</a>, a free law project in collaboration with the Legal Information Institute at Cornell.</em></p> <p><em>Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at <a href="https://pledge3.wnyc.org/donate/radiolab-it/onestep/?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=radiolab-redirect&utm_campaign=pledge&utm_content=show-notes" target="_blank" title="Pledge">Radiolab.org/donate</a>. </em></p>
