Congressional Support For Customary International Human Rights As Federal Common Law: Lessons Of The Torture Victim Protection Act

Transnational human rights litigation has succeeded at a steady pace since the Second Circuit's 1980 decision, Filartiga v. Pena-Irala.' In Filartiga, the court construed an eighteenth century statute - the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) - as granting both a cause of action and jurisdiction to two Paraguayan citizens