2024 Term of Court:
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides, in part, that “No person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. . . .” In this case, the Court ruled that the “Due Process Clause” of the Fifth Amendment allows Congress to expand the jurisdiction of federal courts over persons beyond the borders of the United States, to cover civil damages claims against two foreign entities whose terrorist activities have affected Americans. Fuld v. PLO, Sup Ct Slip Op. of June 20, 2025.
Comment: This 7-2 ruling cannot be justified by any text actually in the United States Constitution. The text, read holistically, would seem to limit the personal jurisdiction of federal courts to persons who can be found within the nation’s borders, i.e., those persons on whom the courts can execute their judgments against individuals without the use of military force. However, the Court’s ruling here is easily justified by a series of case-law precedents that have expanded the Due Process Clause beyond its original meaning. Allowing the common law rule of stare decisis to prevail in this fashion does no violence to the rule-of-law under the federal Constitution.
Dan D. Rhea
RECENT RULINGS 