Unlike most of the litigation filed in the aftermath of Sept. 11, which involves a fairly traditional body of laws and assumes a predictable pattern (the victims' families suing the airlines suing the insurers), the sweeping antiterrorism case brought by Ron Motley relies on new and evolving legal terrain, and its key defendants live in a Muslim monarchy halfway around the world ...
While Motley is aiming at other foreign parties, too, and while he is not suing the kingdom of Saudi Arabia itself, he is making a rather provocative statement by going after the kingdom's prominent citizens, banks and even some of its leaders. The State Department, while not formally weighing in against the suit, is watching it warily: the last thing it desires is the transformation of the American legal system into a blunt instrument of foreign policy. Bankrupting terrorism is certainly a national priority, even an urgent one, but hardly the task the diplomatic corps wants to entrust to a man who once, during closing arguments, wore a toy stethoscope in court.
“... What (is) Motley's case, exactly? A glorified, globalized tort suit? Or an example of a new wartime jurisprudence, one that fights terrorism with lawyers as well as guns and statesmen? The answer, in a sense, is both, and it could be the new way of the world. Those who take a dim view of Motley's work, dismissing it as nothing more than worldwide ambulance chasing, will be startled to learn that it is theoretically possible, in today's borderless society, to follow a screaming siren all the way to Riyadh.”
Full story here. As always with the NYTimes Magazine, the full text will go behind a wall this coming Sunday.