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Congress seems determined to set a new standard for craven incompetence. Less than 24 hours after the Senate and House delivered a stinging rebuke to President Obama by overriding his veto of a bill that would let the Sept. 11 families sue Saudi Arabia, Republican leaders raised the possibility of a do-over...

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, scores of victims’ family members decided to pursue lawsuits in federal court, bypassing a dedicated compensation fund in order to seek not only millions of dollars in damages, but also answers and accountability. Many had wanted to compel a public soul-searching, and to have the airlines and others reveal in court how their policies and actions might have allowed 19 armed hijackers to pass through airport security, board planes and carry out the attacks........

Saudi Arabia is mounting a last-ditch campaign to scuttle legislation allowing families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to sue the kingdom — and they're enlisting major American companies to make an economic case against the bill. General Electric, Dow Chemical, Boeing and Chevron are among the corporate titans that have weighed in against the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA, which passed both chambers unanimously and was vetoed on Friday, according to people familiar with the effort. The companies are acting quietly to avoid the perception of opposing victims of terrorism, but they're responding to...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has vetoed a bill that would have allowed the families of 9/11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia. The move sets Obama up for a possible first veto override by Congress. Both chambers passed the bill by voice vote. The House sent Obama the bill just before the 15th anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has vetoed a bill that would have allowed the families of 9/11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia. The move sets Obama up for a possible first veto override by Congress.

Hillary Clinton claimed surprising ignorance of a bill she should be intimately acquainted with as a former secretary of state and New York senator. ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos brought up the legislation introduced by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, which would allow 9/11 victims to sue state sponsors of terror for the attack that took nearly 3,000 lives in 2001. "Your senior senator here in New York, Chuck Schumer has sponsored a bill backed by the 9/11 families that would give them the right to sue state sponsors of terror in federal court," he said Sunday on "This Week." "Now,...

Airline manufacturer Boeing Co. (BA), major airlines and several airport operators sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday in a bid to question current and former agency employees in connection with negligence litigation over the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks. In separate lawsuits, the airlines and others are challenging decisions by the FBI and the CIA that prevent them from conducting depositions of those employees. The airlines include AMR Corp.'s (AMR) American Airlines, UAL Corp.'s (UAUA) United Airlines, US Airways Group Inc. (LCC), Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL), Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL) and AirTran Holdings...

<p>As a shocked nation linked arms after September 11, conservatives and trial lawyers seemed to forge an uneasy truce. Congress created a government-supported victims' compensation fund for people who opt not to sue in the wake of the terror attacks, and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America stepped in to provide free counsel for them. What's more, ATLA urged its members to suppress their ambulance-chasing impulses and adopt a 45-day moratorium on soliciting terror-victim clients. For a fleeting moment, it looked as though mass litigation might be avoided.</p>

For Immediate Release: - 11/26/03 For Further Information Contact: Philip J. Berg, Esquire 706 Ridge Pike Lafayette Hill, PA 19444-1711 Cell (610) 662-3005 (610) 825-3134 (800) 993-PHIL Fax (610) 834-7659 PJBLAW@aol.com News Conference – Wednesday - 11/26/03 – 12 Noon 5th & Ranstead Streets, Philadelphia [corner of Bourse Building with Independence Hall in background] 911 Victim’s Wife, Ellen Mariani, files RICO Act [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] Federal Court Complaint against President Bush and Cabinet Members (Philadelphia, PA – 11/26/03) - Philip J. Berg, Esquire, announced today that he, attorney for Ellen Mariani, wife of Louis Neil Mariani, who...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Saudi Arabia's defense minister and its former intelligence chief, who have denied allegations in a $1 trillion lawsuit tying them to the Sept. 11 attacks, are beyond the reach of U.S. courts, a federal judge ruled. The suit filed by victims and survivors of the 2001 attacks accused the Saudis of having long, personal relationships with Saudi-born fugitive Osama bin Laden and officials of the Afghan Taliban militia. The officials are the defense minister, Prince Sultan, and Prince Turki al-Faisal, former director of general intelligence and now the Saudi ambassador in Britain. The suit also alleged that...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has dismissed claims against two high-ranking Saudi officials in a lawsuit filed by victims and survivors of the Sept. 11 attacks. In an opinion issued on Friday, Judge James Robertson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said that U.S. courts had no jurisdiction to rule on the actions of Prince Turki Al-Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, director of Saudi Arabia's Department of General Intelligence, and Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who is Saudi Arabia's defense minister and holds other positions as well. In the lawsuit filed by the Sept. 11 victims...

<p>WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has stayed out of judging the Bush administration's terrorism-fighting strategy, but that soon could change.</p> <p>Lower courts have kept busy with challenges to the imprisonment of "enemy combatants" in the United States, government spying, secrecy about immigrants arrested after the Sept. 11 attacks, and the detention of terrorism suspects in Cuba.</p>

The justices consider a petition for a case with no public record. MIAMI - It's the case that doesn't exist. Even though two different federal courts have conducted hearings and issued rulings, there has been no public record of any action. No documents are available. No files. No lawyer is allowed to speak about it. Period. Yet this seemingly phantom case does exist - and is now headed to the US Supreme Court in what could produce a significant test of a question as old as the Star Chamber, abolished in 17th-century England: How far should a policy of total...

<p>WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Lawyers for two Saudi princes argued in Washington Friday their clients have immunity from lawsuits relating to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, CNN reports.</p> <p>Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz and Prince Turki al-Faisal, formerly head of Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency, have been sued by hundreds of relatives of the victims. They allege the two knowingly contributed money and support to al-Qaida through Islamic charitable organizations.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Lawyers representing two Saudi princes argued Friday that their clients have immunity from lawsuits relating to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, because they are diplomatic officials.</p> <p>Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz and Prince Turki al-Faisal, formerly head of Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency, have been sued by hundreds of relatives of the victims, who allege that they knowingly contributed money and support to al Qaeda through Islamic charitable organizations.</p>

The day before the second anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, a federal judge in New York ruled against dismissing a lawsuit brought against Boeing and the Port Authority by victims of the attack. His actions remind us how far we've gone in becoming a nation ruled by lawyers and judges, and not by the people and their elected representatives. Federal judge Alvin Hellerstein began his opinion by saying that "the injured, and the representatives of the thousands who died from the terrorist-related aircraft crashes of September 11, 2001, are entitled to seek compensation." Well, that's true, but the...

LONDON (Reuters) - A pilot who spent five months in Belmarsh prison accused of training September 11 hijackers has filed $10 million (6.3 million pounds) claims against both the FBI and U.S. Justice Department for ruining his life, his lawyer says. Lotfi Raissi, a British-based Algerian who studied at a flight school in Arizona, was arrested in London 10 days after the September 11, 2001 attacks and held at the high-security Belmarsh prison. Washington accused Raissi, 29, of training some of the hijackers. But he was later cleared of wrongdoing by a British judge, who said U.S. officials had failed...

An Algerian pilot falsely accused by the United States of training the September 11 hijackers is suing the US authorities. Lotfi Raissi, 29, the first person accused of participating in attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, has filed for damages against the US department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Raissi, who was detained by the British for five months following the attacks, says his life has been ruined by the trauma he was put through. He said: “I love the US. I lived and trained there and had hoped to make a life for myself...

One of the signs of our times is a recent ruling by a federal judge that those who lost loved ones in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks can sue the planes' manufacturer and the owners of the World Trade Center, among others. This extraordinary -- indeed, unique -- terrorist attack was "foreseeable," according to Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in New York. By the same reasoning, it was "foreseeable" that there would be jackasses like Judge Hellerstein on the federal bench. Similar judges have allowed our courts to become clogged with frivolous lawsuits and turned law into an instrument of...

Ken Schram Commentary: Trying Hard Not To Be Judgmental SEATTLE - I'm trying hard not to be judgmental. I'm trying hard to understand why some seem to think that tragedy, grief and loss should mean a shot at the big brass ring. Earlier this week, a U.S. District Court judge gave the green light to a possible flood of lawsuits because of what happened on 9-11. The judge decided that the hijacking and crashing of jetliners on 9-11 was a "foreseeable risk." He also ruled that the owners of the World Trade Center property can be challenged on whether they...