The Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), which allows aliens to sue for damages in U.S. courts, was part of the original Judiciary Act of 1789, a landmark statute establishing the U.S. judiciary system that was enacted during the first session of the first United States Congress. The provision pertaining to tort claims by aliens (as slightly amended) is comprised of one sentence: “The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.”

The reasons the first U.S. Congress decided to include this provision in the Judiciary Act of 1789 are somewhat obscure. Some scholars believe that when the statute was written in 1789, it was meant to display the new nation’s neutrality with respect to warring European powers. According to this theory, Congress decided to grant federal jurisdiction for tort claims brought by aliens because, as Northwestern University Law Professor Anthony D’Amato noted in an article published in the American Journal of International Law, state courts at the time “were notoriously biased against foreigners.” Others suggest that the law was enacted to persuade European countries that the United States would not become a haven for pirates. But whatever the reasons for including the alien tort claim provision in the Judiciary Act of 1789, little attention was paid to it for nearly 200 years.