Source: 9/11 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism In Re: Thomas E.
Burnett, Sr., et al. v. Al Baraka Investment & Development Corp., et al.,
Case No. 03-CV-9849 (RCC)In Re: Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, MDL
1570 WASHINGTON, May 29
/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a statement of 9/11 Family Members:
Mike Low, Father of Sara Elizabeth Low, AA Flight 11; Bill Doyle, Father of
Joseph M. Doyle, WTC North Tower; Tom & Beverly Burnett, Sr., Parents of
Thomas E. Burnett, Jr., UA Flight 93; and Terry Strada, Wife of Thomas Strada,
WTC North Tower on Behalf of the 9/11 Families United to Bankrupt Terrorism in
Response to the Solicitor General's Refusal to Support The 9/11 Families'
Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the Supreme Court Today the Obama
Administration filed in the Supreme Court a document that expressed the
Administration's decision to stand with a group of Saudi princes and against
the right of American citizens -- 9/11 family members -- to have our day in
court. Let there be no doubt: The filing was political in nature and stands as
a betrayal of everyone who lost a loved one or was injured on September 11,
2001 We are deeply
dismayed by this decision, filed by the solicitor general of the United States
in response to the Supreme Court's February 23, 2009 invitation for the
government to express its views in the 9/11 families' request to appeal a
portion of the case to the Court. The Administration's filing mocks our system
of justice and strikes a blow against the public's right to know the facts
about who financed and supported the murder of 3,000 innocent people. It
undermines our fight against terrorism and suggests a green light to terrorist
sympathizers the world over that they can send money to al Qaeda without having
to worry that they will be held accountable in the U.S. Courts for the
atrocities that result. The Administration
apparently gave less weight to the principles of justice, transparency,
accountability and security, which our case embodies, and more weight to
political concerns and pleadings of a foreign government on the behalf of a
handful of members of its monarchy and others who stand accused of financing
the attacks that murdered our loved ones. Sadly, although the Administration's
obviously politically based filing is merely informational and in no way
binding on the Supreme Court, if the Supreme Court were to follow it, these
people will avoid being held accountable not because they are innocent, but
because they are royalty. The
Administration's filing is all the more troubling in that it expressly acknowledges
that the courts below applied incorrect legal standards in dismissing the Saudi
defendants, but nonetheless argues that the case -- one that seeks to account
for the terrorist attacks against America and the murder of our family members
-- does not warrant the Supreme Court's time. Contrary to the view expressed by
the Obama Administration in the solicitor general's filing, the victims of the
September 11th attack deserve to have their claims decided under accurate legal
standards
SOURCE 9/11 Families United
to Bankrupt Terrorism
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