[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] granted certiorari [order list, PDF] in two cases on Monday. Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC [docket; cert. petition, PDF] focuses on a corporate liability issue. The plaintiffs in the case are victims of terrorist attacks in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. They allege that the bank and its offices in New York should be held liable for knowingly financing terrorism. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [official website] ruled that the bank cannot be held liable.

In Ayestas v. Davis [docket; cert. peition, PDF] the Court has limited the grant of certiorari to consider the conditions under which a defendant has a right to federal funding for an appeal. The case focuses on Ayestas’ appeal to the court that his appeals were wrongfully denied by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website]. The lower court ruled that under 18 U.S.C. § 3599(f) [text] the defendant must prove that the funds requested by defendant are reasonably necessary and that he has a substantial need. Ayestas claims that the substantial need standard is too high for a defendant to prove and creates a “logical circularity” as they must prove they could prevail without the full knowledge of the facts.