Skip to content
Start an Inquiry

Decision record

Courts may not supply a cause of action Congress did not create

Case: Cisco Systems, Inc., et al. v. Doe I, et al.Comparison published: 2026-07-15 Determination published 162 days before this comparison. The underlying determination is NLI SCOTUS Resolution 0062, published 2026-02-03. Publication dates are timestamped by Substack, not by NLI. The decisive question May a federal court create a cause of action under the Alien Tort…

Record Boundary

The status, NLI role, publication authority, observed result, material limitations, version, and correction path below define what this record may responsibly claim.

Status
Comparative determination
Application
Comparative determination
Forum / context
Supreme Court of the United States · Comparative determination

Decisive question

May a federal court create a cause of action under the Alien Tort Statute, or recognize aiding-and-abetting liability under the Torture Victim Protection Act, without congressional authorization?

Controlling dependency

Whether the asserted liabilities were created by Congress or supplied by judicial implication.

Defeat condition

A congressional authorization of either the ATS cause of action or TVPA secondary liability would have defeated the construction.

Case: Cisco Systems, Inc., et al. v. Doe I, et al.
Comparison published: 2026-07-15

Determination published 162 days before this comparison. The underlying determination is NLI SCOTUS Resolution 0062, published 2026-02-03. Publication dates are timestamped by Substack, not by NLI.

The decisive question

May a federal court create a cause of action under the Alien Tort Statute, or recognize aiding-and-abetting liability under the Torture Victim Protection Act, without congressional authorization?

The controlling dependency

Whether the asserted liabilities were created by Congress or supplied by judicial implication.

The defeat condition

A congressional authorization of either the ATS cause of action or TVPA secondary liability would have defeated the construction.

How it compared

Full alignment. The determination predicted certiorari granted, the Ninth Circuit reversed, implied secondary liability rejected, and merits adjudication foreclosed under the asserted theories. The difference lay in decisional mechanics rather than result.

NLI’s role

Published analysis only. No participation in the case.

Limits of this record

NLI was not counsel, a party, or a participant in this case, and filed nothing in it. This record establishes only that NLI published the stated determination on the stated date and how that determination compared with the decision the Court later reached. It does not establish that NLI influenced the outcome, that NLI’s reasoning was adopted, or that a comparable result should be expected in any other matter.

Read the full comparison on Substack