U.S. Supreme Court divided on Mexican cross-border shooting dispute

Jesus Hernandez and Guadalupe Guereca, the parents of Mexican teenager Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca who was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent who fired from the Texas side of border, stand in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., after oral arguments in their case, November 12, 2019.  REUTERS/Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supreme Court justices appeared divided on whether to let foreigners bring civil rights lawsuits in U.S. courts as they considered a bid by a slain Mexican teenager's family to revive a lawsuit against the Border Patrol agent who shot him, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh emerging as a potential pivotal vote.

The court heard arguments in the family's appeal of a lower court's ruling dismissing their case against the agent, Jesus Mesa, who had fired across a concrete spillway into Mexico from the Texas side of the border during the 2010 incident, striking 15-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca in the face.