Goodlatte Urges House to Pass the “Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2laGc0kemAE Washington, D.C.— House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) delivered the following remarks on the House floor in support of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (S. 2040). Chairman Goodlatte: Mr. Speaker, the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act  has been introduced over several successive Congresses and has twice passed the Senate. Over the years that this legislation has been considered, I have worked with its sponsors to make the bill’s language more precise in order to ensure that any unintended consequences are kept to a minimum. In particular, I have worked to make sure that JASTA’s extension of secondary liability under the Anti-Terrorism Act closely tracks the common law standard for aiding and abetting liability and is limited to State Department-designated foreign terrorist organizations. Secondary liability should only attach to persons who have actual knowledge that they are directly providing substantial assistance to a designated foreign terrorist organization in connection with the commission of an act of international terrorism. JASTA, as revised in the Senate Judiciary Committee, ensures that aiding and abetting liability is limited in this manner. In addition to the Anti-Terrorism Act, JASTA amends the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to waive the sovereign immunity of any country that sponsors an act of international terrorism that causes physical injury on U.S. soil. JASTA makes this change because, under current law, a foreign nation can provide financing and other substantial assistance for a terrorist attack in our country and escape liability so long as the support is provided overseas. For example, under current law, if the intelligence agency of a foreign government handed a terrorist a bag of money in New York City to support an attack on U.S. soil, the country would be liable under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act’s tort exception. However, if we change the fact pattern slightly, so that rather than giving a terrorist money in New York City, the money is provided in Paris, the foreign state will not be subject to liability in U.S. courts. This is a troubling loophole in our antiterrorism laws. When Congress enacted the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act in 1976, it put in place a broad set of exceptions to sovereign immunity, including an exception for tort claims involving injuries occurring in the United States.  However, the courts have not consistently interpreted those exceptions in such a manner that they cover the sponsoring of a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. JASTA addresses this inconsistency with a concrete rule that is consistent with the nine, long-standing exceptions to foreign sovereign immunity already provided for under U.S. law. JASTA ensures that those, including foreign governments, who sponsor terrorist attacks on U.S. soil are held fully accountable for their actions.  We can no longer allow those who injure and kill Americans to hide behind legal loopholes, denying justice to the victims of terrorism. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation and reserve the balance of my time. Click here to learn more about the bill.