Professor Dodge Files Amicus Brief in Mexico's Suit Against Gun Manufacturers

On Jan. 31, Professor William S. Dodge filed an amicus brief supporting the government of Mexico’s suit against U.S. gun manufacturers.

According to Mexico’s complaint, the U.S. manufacturers design, market, and sell guns in ways they know will arm Mexican drug cartels. Although Mexico has strict gun laws and prohibits the importation of guns without a permit, it is estimated that more than half a million guns flow from the United States into Mexico each year. The amicus brief, joined by 16 professors of transnational litigation, responds to two arguments raised by defendants in their motion to dismiss. First, it argues that the U.S. Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) does not immunize gun manufacturers from claims under foreign law. Second, it argues that neither international law nor international comity bars Mexican law from applying to conduct in the United States that causes substantial effects in Mexico.

Professor Dodge is Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law and John D. Ayer Chair in Business Law at UC Davis School of Law. He is a leading expert on international law, international transactions, and international dispute resolution, who served as Counselor on International Law to the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State from 2011-12 and as a reporter for the American Law Institute’s Restatement (Fourth) of Foreign Relations Law from 2012-18. Professor Dodge is a co-author of Transnational Business Problems and Transnational Litigation in a Nutshell, and a co-editor of International Law in the U.S. Supreme Court: Continuity and Change, which won the American Society of International Law’s 2012 certificate of merit. He has authored more than 60 other publications in books and law reviews.