A federal court in California has ruled that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza “plausibly” amounts to genocide, but dismissed a case aimed at stopping US military support for Israel as being outside the court’s jurisdiction.
“There are rare cases in which the preferred outcome is inaccessible to the court. This is one of those cases,” the US district court in the northern district of California ruled. “The court is bound by precedent and the division of our coordinate branches of government to abstain from exercising jurisdiction in this matter.
“Yet, as the ICJ [the international court of justice] has found, it is plausible that Israel’s conduct amounts to genocide,” the judge in the case, Jeffrey White, said in his ruling, in a case brought by Palestinian human rights groups and individual Palestinians against President Joe Biden, Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, and Lloyd Austin, the defence secretary.
Are these cases required to go to a state court before they’re presented federally?
While it’s good to know, It feels like it’s not relevant whether an individual state’s courts argue it, since foreign policy has to be handled on a federal level.
edit: I’m actually confused. It’s a federal court in California? what sway does it have typically?
It’s a federal court so specifically about matters of federal law. Where it’s geographically located isn’t relevant to the ruling, and state courts aren’t involved.
Thanks for the clarification