In a significant blow to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor turned down a request on Monday to stay a massive $656 million financial judgment awarded to American victims of Palestinian Arab terrorism, The Associated Press reported.
The decision follows a ruling by the US Supreme Court last year favoring the victims and their surviving family members.
Lawyers representing the PA and PLO had appealed to the high court to suspend the payment during an ongoing appeal against the verdict's reinstatement. In legal filings, officials in Ramallah argued that enforcing the multi-million-dollar penalty immediately would disrupt civil services across PA-governed areas of Judea and Samaria.
The underlying legal battle stems from a series of bloody terror attacks perpetrated in Jerusalem during the early 2000s, which claimed the lives of 33 individuals and left hundreds more wounded. Seeking accountability, affected families filed suit under the US Anti-Terrorism Act - federal legislation structured to provide American victims of international acts of terror access to US courts.
The case has navigated a complex legal path through the US court system. Although a federal appellate tribunal in New York initially overturned the jury verdict in favor of the PLO and PA, US lawmakers subsequently updated anti-terrorism statutes to permit such claims. Reevaluating the matter, the Supreme Court reinstated two related proceedings in 2025.
Following that momentum, the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals formally reinstated the $656 million verdict this past March. Legal counsel representing the bereaved families and survivors expressed deep gratification with the court's action at the time, emphasizing that the decision opened the door for “justice to be done" after decades of legal maneuvering.