Supreme Court Weighs Whether Tech Companies Can Be Sued for Aiding State Persecution

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in *Cisco Systems v. Doe I* on April 29, 2026, in a case that could reshape corporate liability in human rights litigation. Plaintiffs allege Cisco engineered surveillance features into China's Golden Shield system to identify and track Falun Gong practitioners, leading to torture and extrajudicial killing. The Court must decide whether two federal statutes—the Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victim Protection Act—permit private lawsuits against US technology firms for aiding foreign government persecution. A ruling could either shield tech companies or expose them to widespread civil suits over authoritarian-state contracts.