The Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization asked the U.S. Supreme Court this week to pause a $656 million judgment owed to American victims of Second Intifada attacks. The emergency filing follows a March 2026 lower court decision that reinstated damages for families killed or wounded in attacks in Israel during the early 2000s.
The legal battle centers on whether the Palestinian organizations must pay a massive sum that was once voided by the courts. For victims like Mark Sokolow, who was severely injured in a January 2002 suicide bombing in Jerusalem along with his wife and three daughters, the case has spanned more than two decades of litigation. According to USA Today, Sokolow is one of 23 American citizens who sought relief after attacks occurred between 2000 and 2005.
The $655.5 Million Jurisdictional Dispute
The financial stakes of the lawsuit are tied to the Anti-Terrorism Act, which allows for the trebling of damages. A jury originally awarded victims a sum, but that amount was trebled to $655.5 million by a federal court in New York.
For years, the Palestinian groups successfully argued that U.S. courts lacked jurisdiction over them. An appeals court ruled in 2015 that the courts did not have authority over the international organizations. However, the landscape shifted in 2019 when Congress revised the law to specifically allow American victims to sue. This legislative change led to a 2025 Supreme Court ruling that confirmed American citizens could indeed sue the Palestinian groups on U.S. soil.
Following that 2025 ruling, the case returned to lower courts. In March 2026, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to reinstate the verdict. At the time, plaintiffs’ attorneys stated the decision would allow justice to be done
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Palestinian Authority Claims of Regional Instability
In their emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority argue that the immediate payment of the judgment would be catastrophic. They claim the financial blow would destabilize critical government services provided in the West Bank.
The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority stated in court documents that paying the hefty judgment now would destabilize critical government services petitioners provide in the West Bank, injure innocent citizens, and jeopardize regional security.
The organizations contend that the judgment would not only affect the economy but also injure innocent citizens and jeopardize regional security. They specifically warned that immediate enforcement would devastate public schools, health care, the judicial system, and transportation.
The Legal Argument Over Void Judgments
The core of the current appeal rests on a technical legal question: whether a judgment that was previously voided can be “resurrected” by a new law. The Palestinian groups argue that because the $655.5 million award was voided before the 2019 legal change, the lower court had no right to reinstate it.
The groups assert that the original money judgment became a legal nullity in 2018 after the families’ appeals were exhausted. They claim that reviving such a judgment sidesteps constitutional principles of due process and separation of powers.
This creates a sharp tension between the victims’ desire for long-delayed accountability and the defendants’ claim of legal finality. While the 2025 Supreme Court ruling opened the door for lawsuits, the Palestinian groups are now attempting to close the door on this specific, older award by arguing that the 2019 law cannot retroactively apply to a judgment that had already been extinguished.
The Supreme Court must now decide whether to grant the stay and pause the payment while the organizations continue to argue the merits of the reinstatement.
