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Today Scott Horton writes about the Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the Maher Arar case. He sadly recalls those golden days of yesteryear when the very same court in Filartiga vs Pena-Irala “completely rejected its earlier narrow interpretation of international law and opened the door of the federal courts to civil actions by aliens and citizens alike for damages for human rights violations.” (http://www.ccrjustice.org/ourcases/past-cases/fil%C3%A1rtiga-v.-pe%C3%B1-irala )
Here is Scott’s article : http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/11/hbc-90006024
Here is the link to Filartiga vs Pena-Irala630 F.2d 876 : http://openjurist.org/630/f2d/876/filartiga-v-pena-irala
From Filartiga vs Pena-Irala630 F.2d 876
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.
Decided June 30, 1980.
. Indeed, for purposes of civil liability, the torturer has become like the pirate and slave trader before him hostis humani generis, an enemy of all mankind.
Here is the last paragraph of that decision in full
In the twentieth century the international community has come to recognize the common danger posed by the flagrant disregard of basic human rights and particularly the right to be free of torture. Spurred first by the Great War, and then the Second, civilized nations have banded together to prescribe acceptable norms of international behavior. From the ashes of the Second World War arose the United Nations Organization, amid hopes that an era of peace and cooperation had at last begun. Though many of these aspirations have remained elusive goals, that circumstance cannot diminish the true progress that has been made. In the modern age, humanitarian and practical considerations have combined to lead the nations of the world to recognize that respect for fundamental human rights is in their individual and collective interest. Among the rights universally proclaimed by all nations, as we have noted, is the right to be free of physical torture. Indeed, for purposes of civil liability, the torturer has become like the pirate and slave trader before him hostis humani generis, an enemy of all mankind. Our holding today, giving effect to a jurisdictional provision enacted by our First Congress, is a small but important step in the fulfillment of the ageless dream to free all people from brutal violence.
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Fascinating 
