Supreme Court hears Cisco v. Doe Falun Gong surveillance case

The Supreme Court heard oral argument on April 28, 2026, in Cisco Systems v. Doe I, a case asking whether corporations can be sued under the Alien Tort Statute for aiding and abetting human rights abuses. Chinese and American Falun Gong practitioners sued Cisco for allegedly designing the "Golden Shield" — a surveillance system the Chinese Communist Party used to track, detain, and torture adherents. Justices Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson appeared most sympathetic to plaintiffs; the Court's majority seemed likely to rule for Cisco.