Victims of South Africa’s former apartheid regime have another shot to pursue their claims in federal court, in part because some U.S. Supreme Court justices own stock in companies that allegedly did business with the racist government.
More than 30 companies asked the Supreme Court to bar the suit, filed as a class-action for all South Africans victimized by apartheid. The suit was filed under a 1789 law known as the Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows U.S. courts to hear claims brought by aliens for violations of international law.
But the court couldn’t muster a quorum to vote on the petition, an unusual although not unprecedented problem. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito recused themselves. The nine-member court needs six justices to act on an appeal; when they don’t have a quorum, the lower court is affirmed.