Court Case

Sokolow et al. v. PLO et al.

January 2004 (Updated May 13, 2020)
New York, NY
Palestine Liberation Organization

[SDNY] The 2004 lawsuit by victims of bombings in Israel seeks up to $3 billion in damages from attacks between January 2001 and February 2004 by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In Sept 2008 U.S. District Judge George Daniels rejected the PLO's argument that the attacks were acts of war rather than terrorism. On April 27, 2020 the US Supreme Court overturned the appellate court's decision and instructed that court to revisit the case in light of new amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Related Topics: Civil suits, Terror Financing

Case Updates

2020-05-13 | Revisiting of Sokolow v. PLO Gives Hope to Victims' Families

Last month, the US Supreme Court issued a little-noticed order in a blockbuster case that, in the course of its 16-year history, has rocked foreign policy circles, upset the constitutional balance between Congress and the Courts, and so far, left American victims of terrorist attacks without relief.The case, Sokolow v. PLO, has its roots in the bloody years of the Second Intifada – a terror wave of suicide bombings, rocket attacks and sniper fire that killed more than a thousand Israelis and dozens of Americans. In the aftermath of the carnage, American victims and their families sued the Palestine Liberation Organization and Palestinian Authority under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The victims initially won a significant monetary judgment at trial, only to lose it when an appellate court reversed in 2016. The case has reached the US Supreme Court, where the justices have now overturned the appellate court's decision and instructed that court to revisit the case in light of new amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act.

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