Palestinian Authorities Ask Supreme Court To Pause $655.5M Judgment

More than twenty years after a wave of violence during the Second Intifada, American victims and their families are still waiting for financial relief over two decades after the attacks. A legal conflict spanning multiple courts has returned to the nation’s highest judicial body, where lawyers for the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization are attempting to block enforcement of a massive financial penalty while their appeals move forward.

Emergency Supreme Court Filing Over a $655.5 Million Judgment

The legal pressure centers on a long-running lawsuit initiated by families of Americans killed or wounded in attacks in Jerusalem during the early 2000s that killed 33 people and wounded hundreds more. Among those affected was Mark Sokolow, who visited Jerusalem in January 2002 alongside his wife and three daughters—all American citizens—only to be severely injured in a suicide bombing when a suicide bomber’s attack left them severely injured.

In 2015, a New York federal court ordered the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization to pay more than $650 million to Sokolow, his family and 22 other plaintiffs. While plaintiffs’ attorneys expressed relief earlier in the proceedings that the outcome would allow justice to be done according to attorneys for the plaintiffs, the organizations responsible have consistently fought the jurisdiction of U.S. courts over the matter.

Jurisdiction, Congressional Legislation, and Decades of Litigation

The multi-decade litigation path turned on fundamental questions regarding whether American courts could hold international Palestinian organizations accountable. After the initial 2015 award, an appeals court ruled that U.S. courts lacked jurisdiction over the groups under the Anti-Terrorism Act. That setback prompted lawmakers in Washington to take legislative action.

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Congress revised the law in 2019 to explicitly open American courts to victims of international terrorism aimed at opening U.S. courts to victims of international terror attacks. In 2025, the Supreme Court ruled in a separate case that the updated statute allowed American citizens to pursue claims against the Palestinian groups on American soil under the 2019 law. Following that ruling, Sokolow’s case resumed in lower courts, culminating in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstating the damages award in March after the Supreme Court sided with the families.

Regional Security Claims and Arguments Presented to the Supreme Court

In their emergency filing, attorneys for the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization argued that enforcing the multi-million-dollar judgment immediately would trigger severe administrative and humanitarian consequences in the West Bank.

“destabilize critical government services Petitioners provide in the West Bank, injure innocent citizens, and jeopardize regional security.”

Representatives for the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority, via AP News

The petition emphasizes that the organizations manage essential governance duties across the territory where the Palestine Liberation Organization represents Palestinians internationally and leads the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank. The filing asserts that lower courts erred in reviving a financial penalty that had previously been rendered void before Congress altered the governing legislation, leaving the Supreme Court to decide whether enforcement should remain frozen while legal challenges proceed while they continue to argue their case.