Can Plaintiffs Use Multinational Environmental Treaties as Customary International Law to Sue under the Alien Tort Statute?

The Alien Tort Statute (ATS) provides that "[t]he 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. This grant of jurisdiction is usually read narrowly to protect only the most fundamental international human rights such as those prohibiting torture or war crimes. Several courts have, in fact, been unwilling to accept broader claims to a right to life or a healthy environment and thereby have rejected environmental claims under the ATS.