President Barack Obama and Congress are butting heads over a bill that would allow the families of 9/11 victims to surpass foreign immunity claims in cases related to terrorism on American soil.
Before the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) passed through Congress on September 9, President Obama announced his intention to veto the legislation, citing the “significant risk” it could pose for American diplomats, service members, and companies abroad. But Obama, who is expected to veto the measure Friday, could see a veto overturned for the first time in his presidency.
“Our assumption is that the veto will be overridden,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan also said he believed there were enough votes to overturn the veto, but Ryan also expressed his ambivalence toward JASTA.
“I worry about legal matters,” Ryan said. “I worry about trial lawyers trying to get rich off of this. And I do worry about the precedence. At the same time, these victims do need to have their day in court.”
While 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, the country denied any involvement in the 9/11 attacks and a Congressional investigation found no evidence to suggest otherwise — even after the release of the long anticipated 28 pages. But some of the victims’ families, who have tirelessly campaigned for the bill, are adamant that their case should be taken to the judiciary.
“The president’s rationales to veto JASTA don’t hold weight. They are 100% wrong,” Terry Strada, whose husband Tom Strada died in World Trade Center collapse, told CNN. “For us, the 9/11 families and survivors, all we are asking for is an opportunity to have our case heard in a courtroom. Denying us justice is un-American.”
The administration argues this could set a dangerous precedent, whereby American companies or government representatives abroad could be brought to court.
“We believe this is a bad bill,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
The override vote is expected in the coming days, the Washington Post reported, but doubts over the legislation from people like Ryan is leading the bill’s opponents to make a final push against the veto.
“The harm this legislation will cause the United States will be both dramatic and long-lasting,” a bipartisan group of former national security advisers wrote in an open letter addressed to Obama and shared with the press on Tuesday. Signatories included veterans of the Clinton and Bush administrations.
The European Union also issued a statement to the State Department expressing its opposition to the bill. The E.U. delegation to the United States said that but both the E.U. and the United States were “concerned about possible reciprocity from others.”