Supreme Court hears corporate human rights case

[robert l. bentham]

The court's conservatives voiced concern that allowing such lawsuits violated international law, that it created tensions with foreign nations and that the U.S. law only applied to acts by individuals, not to corporations.​

The case before the court involved a lawsuit by 12 Nigerians who alleged that ​

Royal Dutch Shell Plc​

helped the Nigerian government crack down on oil exploration protests between 1992 and 1995 through torture, executions and crimes against humanity.​

"What business does a case like that have in the United States?" Justice ​

Samuel Alito​

asked Paul Hoffman, the California attorney who argued for the plaintiffs.​

"There's no connection to the United States whatsoever," Alito said. "This kind of lawsuit only creates international tension."​

Justice ​

Anthony Kennedy​

, who often casts the decisive vote on the court divided with five conservatives and four liberals, questioned whether international law recognized corporate responsibility for the alleged offenses in the lawsuit.​

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...humanrightstre81r1pc-20120228,0,2488943.story

 

[the_leander]

Not unlike when Coca Cola had the union officials in one of their bottling plants in south america murdered by rentothugs.