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	Federal Human Rights Statute Invoked against Catholic Church By Barbara L. Jones Minnesota Lawyer March 1, 2011 http://minnlawyer.com/minnlawyerblog/2011/03/01/federal-human-rights-statute-invoked-against-catholic-church/ A federal judge in California has given the go-ahead to a lawsuit based on the Alien Tort Statute against two cardinals and a priest for their roles in the sexual abuse of a Mexican man as a boy in 1997. The court said that the plaintiff sufficiently pleaded rape and sexual abuse of children as “…cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” and crimes against humanity. The decision means the California court will hear claims about sexual abuse that occurred in Mexico, with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles named as a defendant. The Alien Tort Statute was enacted by the first Congress in 1789. It reads in its entirety: “The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only,committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. sec.1350. It has been used to target human rights violations in a number of contexts, but is reportedly the first time the law has been used against the Catholic church. The attorneys for the plaintiffs are Jeff Anderson & Associates in St. Paul.
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