The U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to block a historic $10 billion lawsuit brought by the Mexican government against seven major U.S. gun manufacturers and a gun wholesaler for aiding and abetting the unlawful smuggling of hundreds of thousands of guns annually into Mexico, fueling violence by drug cartels. During oral arguments Tuesday, both liberal and conservative justices appeared to agree with U.S. gun makers that said Mexico’s suit violates a 2005 statute, the Protecting Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields the firearms industry from most legal liability in U.S. courts. Catherine Stetson is a lawyer representing the Mexican government.

Catherine Stetson: “Mexico’s complaint pleads that petitioners aided and abetted violations of specific federal gun laws and that those violations proximately caused Mexico’s harm. That satisfies PLACA’s predicate exception. First, the complaint details that petitioners deliberately supply the illegal Mexican market by selling guns through the small number of dealers that they know sell a large number of crime guns and who repeatedly sell in bulk to the cartel traffickers.”