Page:United States Reports, Volume 542.djvu/731

Syllabus

SOSA v. ALVAREZ MACHAIN et al.

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINGTH CIRCUIT

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) approved using petitioner Sosa and other Mexican nationals to abduct respondent Alvarez Machain (Alvarez), also a Mexican national, from Mexico to stand trial in the United States for a DEA agent's torture and murder. As relevant here, after his acquittal, Alvarez sued the United States for false arrest under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), which waives sovereign immunity in suits "for . . . personal injury . . . caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any [Government] employee while acting within the scope of his office or employment," 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b)(1); and sued Sosa for violating the law of nations under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), a 1789 law giving district courts "original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations. . .," §1350. The District Court dismissed the FTCA claim, but awarded Alvarez summary judgment and damages on the ATS claim. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the ATS judgment, but reversed the FTCA claim's dismissal.

Held:

1. The FTCA's exception to waiver of sovereign immunity for claims "arising in a foreign country," 28 U.S.C. § 2680(k), bars claims based on any injury suffered in a foreign country, regardless of where the tortious act or omission occurred. Pp. 699–712.

(a) The exception on its face seems plainly applicable to the facts of this action. Alvarez's arrest was said to be "false," and thus tortious, only because, and only to the extent that, it took place and endured in Mexico. Nonetheless, the Ninth Circuit allowed the action to proceed under what is known as the "headquarters doctrine," concluding that, because Alvarez's abduction was the direct result of wrongful planning and direction by DEA agents in California, his claim did not "aris[e] in" a foreign country. Because it will virtually always be possible to assert negligent activity occurring in the United States, such analysis must be viewed with skepticism. Two considerations confirm this Court's skepticism and lead it to reject the headquarters doctrine. Pp. 700–703.

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1. Together with No. 03–485, United States v. Alvarez-Machain et al., also on certiorari to the same court.