The fifteenth anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks arrives in a few days. While Republican nominee Donald Trump is marking the occasion by reportedly claiming that he could have one-upped Mark Wahlberg and stopped Osama Bin Laden, Congress is taking action in a different way.
On Friday, the U.S. House voted on a bill that was previously approved by the Senate and which would allow 9/11 victims’ families to bring lawsuits against foreign countries and nationals. In more explicit language, these families are now able to sue the Saudi Arabian government for possible involvement in the attacks. This bill follows a NY Post report that shed light on how the U.S. government covered up the role of Saudi officials in financing the hijackers’ plans. Congress then released the 9/11 files’ missing “28 Pages,” which contained a suspicious amount of blacked out portions, but scolded the U.S. intelligence community for ball dropping on “the Saudi issue.”
Congress agrees that Saudi ties were strong enough to allow victims’ families to sue, and spurred on by the tragedy’s anniversary, the U.S. House expedited the bill. C-Span posted video of the voice vote approval, and the New York Times quotes Harvard Law Professor Jack Goldsmith, who notes the “seeming seriousness about terrorism” with which Congress acted. But he and The Times explain how the bill may set a harmful precedent:
The bill addresses a 1976 law that gives foreign nations broad immunity from American lawsuits by amending it to allow for nations to be sued in federal courts if they are found to have played any role in terrorist attacks that killed Americans on home soil. It also allows Americans to direct financial damage claims against those who funded the attacks.
The administration has argued that it would put Americans at legal risk overseas. That position seemed at least somewhat validated when the French Parliament member Pierre Lellouche, who serves as chairman of the rough equivalent in France of the American Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he would pursue legislation that would permit French citizens to sue the United States with cause.
CNN reports that the White House has continued to strongly indicate how President Obama will veto this bill to avoid harming diplomatic relations. In addition, House Speaker Paul Ryan acknowledges the precedent that the bill would set, but “I think that those concerns have been taken under consideration, and members are acting accordingly.”
(Via C-Span, CNN & New York Times)