United States Second Circuit

In an action under the Torture Victim Protection Act and the Fifth Amendment based on plaintiff's detention at a U.S. airport and subsequent removal to and alleged torture in Syria, the dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where 1) plaintiff insufficiently pleaded that the alleged conduct of defendant U.S. officials was done under color of Syrian law; and 2) in the context of extraordinary rendition, allowing a Bivens action against policymaking federal officials would have the natural tendency to affect diplomacy, foreign policy, and the security of the nation.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/02/2009
• Published 11/02/2009

Judges

• Before JACOBS, Chief Judge, McLAUGHLIN, CALABRESI, CABRANES, POOLER, SACK,** SOTOMAYOR, PARKER,**RAGGI, WESLEY, HALL, and LIVINGSTON, Circuit Judges.  KATZMANN, Circuit Judge, took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• David Cole (Maria Couri LaHood, Jules Lobel, Katherine Gallagher, on the brief), Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, NY;  Joshua S. Sohn (on the brief), DLA Piper U.S. LLP, New York, NY, for Plaintiff-Appellant., Robin L. Goldfaden, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Immigrants' Rights Project, San Francisco, CA, for Amici Curiae American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union in support of Plaintiff-Appellant., Burt Neuborne, New York, NY, for Amici Curiae Norman Dorsen, Helen Hershkoff, Frank Michelman, Burt Neuborne, and David L. Shapiro, in support of Plaintiff-Appellant., Michael B. De Leeuw, Dale E. Ho, Jonathan J. Smith, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. in support of Plaintiff-Appellant., Sidney S. Rosdeitcher, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, New York, NY, for Amici Curiae Retired Federal Judges in support of Plaintiff-Appellant., Nancy Morawetz, New York University School of Law, New York, NY, for Amici Curiae Law Professors in support of Plaintiff-Appellant., Alexander Yanos, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer U.S. LLP, New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae Redress Trust in support of Plaintiff-Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Jonathan F. Cohn, Deputy Assistant Attorney General (Gregory G. Katsas, Assistant Attorney General;  Benton J. Campbell, United States Attorney;  Larry Lee Gregg, R. Joseph Sher, Dennis C. Barghaan, Assistant United States Attorneys;  Mary Hampton Mason, Jeremy S. Brumbelow, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Torts Branch;  Barbara L. Herwig, Robert M. Loeb, Michael Abate, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Appellate Staff, on the brief), for Defendant-Appellee John Ashcroft, the official capacity Defendants-Appellees, and the United States., Jeremy A. Lamken (John J. Cassidy, Jamie S. Kilberg, Paul J. Nathanson, on the brief), Baker Botts L.L.P., Washington D.C.;  Stephen L. Braga (on the brief), Ropes & Gray L.L.P., Washington D.C., for Defendant-Appellee Larry D. Thompson.