Palestinian Authority suffers legal defeat in US Supreme Court

US Supreme Court refuses to halt $655.5 million judgment against the Palestinian Authority and PLO over terror attacks.

By World Israel News Staff

US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has rejected an emergency request from the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization to freeze a $655.5 million judgment awarded to American victims of terrorist attacks in Israel.

Sotomayor denied the request Monday without providing an explanation or referring it to the full Supreme Court, according to the court’s docket. The decision allows the victims to continue seeking enforcement of the judgment while the Palestinian organizations pursue a further appeal. It does not resolve the merits of that appeal.

The judgment stems from a lawsuit brought by Americans who were killed or injured, along with relatives and survivors, in a series of shootings and bombings in and around Jerusalem during the Second Intifada.

A federal jury in Manhattan found the PA and PLO liable in 2015 for supporting six attacks carried out between 2002 and 2004. The attacks killed 33 people and wounded more than 450 others. The jury initially awarded $218.5 million, which was automatically tripled to $655.5 million under the US Anti-Terrorism Act.

The PA and PLO asked Sotomayor to suspend enforcement while they challenge a March decision by the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals reinstating the award.

In their emergency filing, the Palestinian organizations argued that paying the judgment could severely damage the PA’s finances, disrupt government operations in the West Bank and threaten regional stability.

They said the plaintiffs could attempt to collect the award from Palestinian tax revenues transferred through Israel, which represent a major source of funding for PA institutions. Security, sanitation and school services in the West Bank “are hanging by a thread,” the filing said.

The PA and PLO also argued that the original judgment could not legally be revived after it was overturned and the previous appeals process ended.

“The money judgment at issue became a legal nullity when … appeals were exhausted in 2018,” their lawyers wrote.

The case has moved repeatedly between federal courts during more than two decades of litigation.

The 2nd Circuit overturned the verdict in 2016, ruling that US courts lacked personal jurisdiction over the Palestinian organizations because the attacks occurred abroad and were not specifically directed at the United States. The Supreme Court declined to hear the victims’ appeal in 2018.

Congress subsequently passed the Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act in 2019. The law allows the PA and PLO to be treated as having consented to the jurisdiction of US courts if they engage in certain activities in the United States or make payments to attackers or their families when Americans were harmed in the attacks.

A lower court later found the law unconstitutional. However, the Supreme Court unanimously reversed that ruling in June 2025, finding that the law did not violate the Palestinian organizations’ Fifth Amendment due process rights.

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, the 2nd Circuit reconsidered the Sokolow case and reinstated the original judgment on March 30.

“We conclude that the original judgment for the plaintiffs should be reinstated,” the appeals court said. “That conclusion is consistent with the plain import of the Supreme Court’s decision.”

Kent Yalowitz, an attorney representing the families, welcomed the March decision.

“They have been waiting for a very long time for justice to be done,” Yalowitz said.

The original lawsuit accused PA and PLO employees and affiliated organizations of providing material support for attacks attributed to Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. The plaintiffs argued that Palestinian officials supplied money, weapons, salaries and other assistance to attackers and their families.

Lawyers for the PA and PLO denied that the organizations directed the attacks, arguing during the 2015 trial that they condemned the violence and that any involvement by Palestinian employees was the unauthorized conduct of individuals acting independently.

After the original jury verdict, attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who helped represent the victims, said the case established a financial consequence for sponsoring attacks.

“Now the PLO and the PA know there is a price for supporting terrorism,” she said at the time.

Sotomayor handles emergency applications arising from the 2nd Circuit, which includes New York. Her refusal to freeze the judgment leaves the award in place but does not necessarily end the legal battle, as the PA and PLO can continue seeking full Supreme Court review of the appeals court’s decision.

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