By Isabella Torregiani
2:32pm PDT, Jun 8, 2025
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In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has dismissed Mexico's $10 billion lawsuit against American gun manufacturers. The suit accused U.S. gun companies of fueling cartel violence by supplying weapons.
The ruling, delivered on Thursday, June 5, stated, "Mexico's complaint … does not plausibly allege such aiding and abetting."
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In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court determined that Mexico cannot sue U.S. gunmakers for the damage caused by drug cartels south of the border.
"An action cannot be brought against a manufacturer if, like Mexico's, it is founded on a third party's criminal use of the company's product," Justice Elena Kagan reportedly wrote.
The Justices ruled that the seven American gunmakers and distributors named in the lawsuit are protected under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) — a 2005 law that shields firearm companies from liability when their products are being misused by others.
"Recall that Congress enacted the statute to halt a flurry of lawsuits attempting to make gun manufacturers pay for the downstream harms resulting from misuse of their products," Kagan added.
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Mexico originally filed the lawsuit in 2021, citing a section in the PLCCA that allows legal action if companies "knowingly violated" the law.
The lawsuit alleged that some U.S. manufacturers targeted buyers with marketing tactics, including selling pistols with images of revolutionary figure Emiliano Zapata and allowed firearms to be funneled to straw purchasers who then turned them over to cartels.
"But that exception, if Mexico's suit fell within it, would swallow most of the rule. We doubt Congress intended to draft such a capacious way out of PLCAA, and in fact it did not," Elena Kagan explained.
She concluded that the predicate exception only applies "when a plaintiff makes a plausible allegation."
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This ruling from the Supreme Court comes amid heightened tension between Mexico and the United States during President Donald Trump's administration.
Earlier this year, the president imposed a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico that aren't covered by the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The administration argued that the tariffs were necessary to pressure Mexico into stepping up border enforcement and reducing the flow of drugs into the U.S.
