As Russell Jackson notes in the National Law Journal (article in PDF, summary at his blog), Alien Tort plaintiffs have enjoyed enough successes lately, among the numerous setbacks, to encourage the continued bringing to U.S. courts of alleged human rights violations in faraway lands:

It is ironic that -- at a time when a nationwide negligence class action for physical injuries cannot be certified because of the differences in legal standards among the states -- courts have reached out to assert jurisdiction over class actions for claims under the "law of nations" whose elements and subtleties seem far less well-settled than negligence law.