By Abbie VanSickle
Publication Date: 2026-04-28 19:05:00
A majority of the Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared skeptical of a lawsuit by Falun Gong members who claim that an American tech company helped the Chinese government to target them for torture.
The lawsuit asserts that Cisco Systems Inc. helped the Chinese government create an internet censorship program, known as the Golden Shield, that enabled the government to surveil and harm members of the spiritual movement, which is banned in China.
At issue before the Supreme Court is whether American courts can judge such disputes. During oral arguments on Tuesday, several of the court’s conservatives raised concerns about allowing the lawsuit to proceed, suggesting that the executive branch and Congress, not the courts, were best equipped to handle allegations of human rights abuses in other countries.
“I’m concerned at a separation-of-powers level,” said Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, adding that he worried that allowing such lawsuits might give Congress less of an incentive to take…
