The US House of Representatives has passed a bill allowing Americans to sue Saudi Arabia over 9/11, days before the attack’s 15th anniversary. The Obama administration has repeatedly said the President won’t sign the bill, citing concerns it could backfire and put Americans overseas at legal risk.
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The Obama administration has warned that if USA citizens can take the Saudis to court, then a foreign country could in turn sue the United States.
The Senate passed the bill in May by voice vote despite vehement objections from Saudi Arabia, a key USA ally in the Middle East.
The vote comes after the intelligence community released 28 classified pages of Congress’ first investigation into the September 11 attacks, which described ties between several of the hijackers and individuals loyal to Saudi Arabia.
JASTA proponents have said the bill will give the families of 9/11 victims justice, but critics suggest the measure could greatly affect US foreign relations with Saudi Arabia and with allies.
Meanwhile, Dennis Ross, a counselor and fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and former special assistant to Obama from 2009 to 2011, wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post, praising the reforms adopted by Saudi Arabia. The ease with which it cleared the House, combined with the bill’s unanimous passage in the Senate in May, suggests that a presidential veto would likely be overturned.
“This bill is very near and dear to my heart as a New Yorker because it would allow the victims of 9/11 to pursue some small measure of justice”, Schumer said, according to the Hill.
A member of the French parliament, Pierre Lellouche, said he would consider retaliatory legislation in France, and would anticipate it elsewhere, if the final version of JASTA does not include waivers for countries that are USA allies and actively involved in fighting terrorism.
“The way that this law is written could open up US companies and even potentially USA personnel to vulnerabilities when they’re engaged in actions or doing business or conducting official government work overseas”, Earnest pointed out.
“In fact what they (Congress) are doing is stripping the principle of sovereign immunities, which would turn the world for global law into the law of the jungle”, Mr Al-Jubeir said.
If signed into law, the bipartisan Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act would permit Americans to make civil claims “against a foreign state or official for injuries, death, or damages from an act of worldwide terrorism”.
The vote was held ahead of the 15th anniversary of the terror attacks.
The concern is that the law could damage the U.S.’ relationship with Saudi Arabia and create a unsafe situation for American officials overseas.
Riches urged the President to do right by the 9/11 families, who only want a shot in court. The papers did not significantly add to information that was publicly disclosed in other reports and documents.
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Supporters of the legislation, including Schumer, have voiced confidence that they would have the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes in Yemen since March 2015.
