Supreme Court Revives Terror Suits Against Palestinian Groups
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear lawsuits brought against Palestinian groups accused of carrying out terror attacks that left American citizens maimed or killed.
Chief Justice John Roberts ruled that Congress acted constitutionally in passing the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act of 2019, which places the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization under the jurisdiction of U.S. federal courts. The law allows victims of terrorism to sue in American courts when certain recurring actions by these groups are deemed to constitute consent to jurisdiction.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had previously struck down the Act, arguing that the behaviors outlined in the statute did not ordinarily imply consent to be sued.
Among the lawsuits is a claim filed by the family of Ari Yoel Fuld, a U.S. citizen who was brutally stabbed to death during a 2018 terror attack in the West Bank. His case, and others like it, will now be given a new opportunity for justice inside America’s highest court.
This development comes as the justices also handed down one of the most consequential rulings of the term—upholding Tennessee’s law banning so-called “gender-affirming” medical interventions for minors.
In a 6-3 decision, the Court backed Tennessee’s SB 1, which bars doctors from administering puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and surgical procedures to children for the purpose of enabling them to “identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex.” Violations carry civil penalties for providers. The law, enacted in 2023, is one of dozens passed in Republican-led states to protect children from irreversible experimentation pushed by radical gender activists.
Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority, acknowledged the heated scientific and policy disputes surrounding the issue, but made clear that the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause “does not resolve these disagreements.” The ruling effectively lowers the judicial standard for evaluating such laws, meaning similar state bans are now more likely to be upheld in the future.
The three liberal justices dissented, siding with the Biden administration, which had originally challenged Tennessee’s law on behalf of transgender minors and their parents. But with President Donald J. Trump returning to office and reversing the Biden DOJ’s support for the plaintiffs, the Court ultimately sided with states’ rights and parental protection.
Roughly half of all U.S. states now have comparable bans in place. The Court’s decision marks a significant victory for conservatives, parents, and medical freedom advocates who have fought to protect children from what President Trump has consistently called “transgender lunacy.”
The Supreme Court is expected to wrap up its term next week, unless additional days are added for final rulings.