Judge Nap: 9/11 Veto Override Lifts ‘Shroud of Mystery’ Between US, Saudis
By a final vote of 348 ‘yea’, 77 ‘nay’ plus 1 abstention, the US House successfully overrode President Obama’s veto of a bill that would allow 9/11 victims and their families to sue Saudi Arabia for alleged involvement in the attacks, Shepard Smith reported .
The Senate previously overrode the veto 97-1, with Senator Harry M. Reid of Nevada being the only one backing Obama’s decision.
Fox News’ senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said that, under the Bush and Obama administrations, the “essential nature of our relationship [with Saudi Arabia] has been shrouded in mystery.”
The veto override means “that shroud is about to be lifted by plaintiffs’ lawyers, who will bring people from the Saudi government into their offices in New York, put them under oath and ask them questions,” Napolitano explained.
“This essentially becomes law in a couple of minutes,” he said. “As of this very moment…survivors of 9/11 or their families can sue for damages.”
“This has never happened before between the US and Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Napolitano called the vote an “overwhelming rebuke” of Obama’s veto, and Smith added that many Democratic supporters of the veto followed the president’s lead for political reasons.
He said Obama’s decision to veto was likely because of apprehension that such a groundbreaking legislative move could “unleash lawsuits abroad against the United States” in kind.
“And to defend those [American] individuals, we may have to go to court and disclose all sorts of confidential intelligence.
John Bussey, associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, also warned that the effect of the ability to bring the Saudis to court could “damage the [complex] relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.”
“Saudi Arabia is one of our key allies in a very difficult zone of the world. Yet, the royal family has kept its own fractious nation calm by funding some very conservative Islamist groups that may have had some role in [9/11],” Bussey said.
By a final vote of 348 ‘yea’, 77 ‘nay’ plus 1 abstention, the US House successfully overrode President Obama’s veto of a bill that would allow 9/11 victims and their families to sue Saudi Arabia for alleged involvement in the attacks, Shepard Smith reported .
The Senate previously overrode the veto 97-1, with Senator Harry M. Reid of Nevada being the only one backing Obama’s decision.
Fox News’ senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said that, under the Bush and Obama administrations, the “essential nature of our relationship [with Saudi Arabia] has been shrouded in mystery.”
The veto override means “that shroud is about to be lifted by plaintiffs’ lawyers, who will bring people from the Saudi government into their offices in New York, put them under oath and ask them questions,” Napolitano explained.
“This essentially becomes law in a couple of minutes,” he said. “As of this very moment…survivors of 9/11 or their families can sue for damages.”
“This has never happened before between the US and Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Napolitano called the vote an “overwhelming rebuke” of Obama’s veto, and Smith added that many Democratic supporters of the veto followed the president’s lead for political reasons.
He said Obama’s decision to veto was likely because of apprehension that such a groundbreaking legislative move could “unleash lawsuits abroad against the United States” in kind.
“And to defend those [American] individuals, we may have to go to court and disclose all sorts of confidential intelligence.
John Bussey, associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, also warned that the effect of the ability to bring the Saudis to court could “damage the [complex] relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.”
“Saudi Arabia is one of our key allies in a very difficult zone of the world. Yet, the royal family has kept its own fractious nation calm by funding some very conservative Islamist groups that may have had some role in [9/11],” Bussey said.
