Palestine Liberation Organization v. Sokolow

Case Overview

An emergency application on the Supreme Court's docket, filed July 27, 2026 and directed to Justice Sotomayor, in which the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority ask the Court to stay enforcement of a $655.5 million money judgment while they prepare a petition for certiorari. The judgment traces to Anti-Terrorism Act claims by American victims of terror attacks in Jerusalem between 2002 and 2004. A jury awarded $218.5 million in 2015, trebled to $655.5 million, but the Second Circuit vacated it in 2016 for lack of personal jurisdiction, and that dismissal became final when the Supreme Court denied review in 2018. Congress then enacted the PSJVTA to create jurisdiction over the PLO and PA, and in Fuld v. PLO (2025) the Supreme Court upheld that statute. On remand the Second Circuit recalled its mandate and reinstated the original judgment. The applicants argue that reviving a judgment entered without jurisdiction, years after it became final, violates due process and separation-of-powers limits on the judicial power under Plaut v. Spendthrift Farm and related cases, and that immediate enforcement against tax revenues Israel collects and withholds would gut security, health, and education services in the West Bank. This is the emergency-docket companion to the merits case Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization already tracked here.