This post addresses “whether and under what circumstances the Alien Tort Statute [ATS] . . . allows courts to recognize a cause of action for violations of the law of nations occurring within the territory of a sovereign other than the United States.” The ATS explicitly grants jurisdiction over torts in violation of “the law of nations.” Understanding that law is therefore necessary to understanding what the statute authorizes. The law of nations comprises both substantive and jurisdictional components, and I’ll begin by focusing on the most pertinent to Kiobel’s so-called “foreign-cubed” claims: the enigmatic principle of “universal jurisdiction,” which grants every state in the world jurisdiction over certain violations of the law of nations even absent any connection to the violation when and where it occurred. I’ll then contend that Congress affirmatively conferred universal jurisdiction in the ATS and that private international law, which is part of the law of nations, contemplates such jurisdiction in civil suits between foreigners for claims arising abroad.