Judd Littleton, Co-Head of Sullivan & Cromwell’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice, discussed top appellate issues to watch in 2024 with The National Law Journal.
Judd expects Anti-Terrorism Act litigation to be one such issue, in the wake of Twitter v. Taamneh, in which the Supreme Court held that the family of an ISIS victim cannot sue Twitter for allowing the terrorist group to use its platforms. Judd noted that district courts have adopted different interpretations of the ruling when addressing cases asking “whether and to what extent those entirely legitimate corporate defendants can be held liable for aiding and abetting terrorist attacks merely because they provided arms-length services to other entities that arguably served as a link in the chain that led to the terrorist attack.”
Judd represents Standard Chartered Bank and others before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a case involving the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act and the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act. He also represents Ericsson, the Swedish telecommunications company, in a similar suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“[T]o the extent that diversion [among courts] persists and courts continue to confine Twitter too narrowly, I do think that Anti-Terrorism Act litigation may well make it back to the [Supreme Court],” he said.
Read “Five Legal Issues to Watch in the Federal Appeals Courts in 2024.”