The Supreme Court announced this past week that it will rule on a law which allows terrorism victims to sue Palestinian organizations.

One fact about the case which could cause liberals to freak out is that the White House and congressional Democrats are on the same side as Republicans. 

Case concerns man who was murdered in 2018

At issue is a piece of legislation passed five years ago which permits Americans who have been injured in terror attacks to sue the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Palestinian Authority (PA).

According to The Hill, family members of an Israeli American named Ari Fuld brought suit under the law after he was fatally stabbed at a West Bank shopping mall in 2018.

The Supreme Court to consider reviving terror victims’ suits against Palestinian leadership https://t.co/DFU6Emnl9a

— The Hill (@thehill) December 6, 2024

Their lawsuit is being supported by the Biden Justice Department, which maintains that Congress made the PLO and PA vulnerable to civil action whenever the groups make payments to terrorists who kill or injure U.S. citizens.

That position was rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which dismissed the lawsuit by Fuld's family.

U.S. solicitor general defends lawsuit

As the website Law.com noted, the appellate judges ruled that federal courts lack personal jurisdiction over the defendants because their alleged actions took place outside of the United States.

The judges concluded that allowing the suit to proceed would violate the Constitution's Fifth Amendment right to due process.

However, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued in a brief submitted to America's highest judicial body that the Second Circuit employed a "rigid and misconceived application" of the law.

"The court of appeals held unconstitutional an act of Congress passed to facilitate the resolution of claims brought against respondents by or on behalf of Americans injured or killed by foreign acts of terrorism," Law.com quoted her as writing.

House Democrats and Republicans file joint brief

"And the court did so on an unlikely ground: that it would offend 'traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice' to deem respondents to have constructively consented to personal jurisdiction based on their knowing and voluntary actions—even though respondents are sophisticated entities that have operated in the United States for decades and have previously litigated similar cases here," she added.

Meanwhile, The Hill pointed out that House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries filed a joint friend-of-the-court brief in support of the lawsuit.

"For decades, starving terror networks of funding has been a central focus of Congress’s national security efforts, one that has been singularly effective in bringing terror sponsors to justice, reducing terrorists’ destructive capabilities, and saving American lives," it stated.