Report: Senators Voted Unanimously To Lift The Bar on Suing Saudi Arabia . . . But Then Added Poison Pill Provision Allowing The Administration To Bar Such Lawsuits

220px-Charles_Schumer_official_portrait125px-Coat_of_arms_of_Saudi_Arabia.svgRemember that “historic” vote to lift the statutory ban on 9/11 families suing Saudi Arabia? Senators lined up to vote unanimously with the 9/11 families and to reject the threats of Saudi Arabia to wreck economic havoc on the United States. However, it was revealed this week that Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. added a small amendment to the bill that gave the Administration the right to bar such lawsuits. Since the Administration opposes the changing of the law, its position is quite clear. Now many are objecting that the Senate vote was knowingly misleading given the Schumer amendment.


The families believed that they were finally able to sue with the lifting of the restrictions under the JASTA. However, the new section gives the Justice and State departments the power to stay court action indefinitely. The Justice Department merely has to inform the judge that there are diplomatic discussions regarding the issue.

All they have to do is inform the judge hearing the case that the US government has engaged with ­Riyadh in diplomatic talks to resolve the issue. The “Stay of Actions Pending State Negotiations” was slipped into the bill at the last minute without any discussion. It requires only a certification that the United States is “engaged in good-faith discussions with the foreign-state defendant concerning the resolution of claims against the foreign state.”

With the change, Senators could vote for the law and stand up to the Saudis while quietly giving the Administration an easy way to again block the families.

54 thoughts on “Report: Senators Voted Unanimously To Lift The Bar on Suing Saudi Arabia . . . But Then Added Poison Pill Provision Allowing The Administration To Bar Such Lawsuits”

  1. You’re so awesome! I don’t think I’ve truly read something
    like that before. So great to discover someone with original thoughts on this issue.

    Seriously.. many thanks for starting this up.
    This web site is one thing that is required on the web,
    someone with a bit of originality!

  2. Did the Saudis, I mean from some official source, imply that the US was complicit in 9/11?
    Give a link if you have something there.

    I am not a conspiracy theorist on this, but of course if there is evidence I have no problem believing it.
    I am reminded of the AIDS scandal in France in the ’80s, where the govt there knew that there was AIDS tainted transfusion blood, but intentionally gave the greenlight to use it in transfusions, essentially killing thousands of people.
    So, something like that can happen, but usually someone spills the beans within a few years, and this has been more than a few.

    1. I can’t find the source I came across days ago featuring a semi-official Saudi but I found this one that quotes a Saudi legal scholar http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/9202.htm
      I’ll work on finding that one again.

      As it is however, the official narrative we have about 9/11 is one that relies on the 9/11 Truth commission, which is so flawed that even the 9/11 widows, along with countless military/ intelligence people former elected officials, architects, engineers and scientists have rejected it outright.
      I too never believed in conspiracy theories, but considering everything we now know, and considering how essential 9/11 has been to turning the world into a borderless conflict zone, it is supremely important we revisit it and assign both facts and responsibilities.
      If we were to find that the government was even just 10% complicit in it for whatever reason, yet took us to war and blew the world off its hinges with such deception, we ought to put a stop to this madness before it becomes forever the justification to our madness and lead us off the ledge.

  3. This poison pill amendment should go mainstream, it is a sneaky underhanded shortcircuiting of the whole piece of legislation.

    I don’t see how this action by Schumer would go over well with his Jewish supporters.

    1. Gary, good question. And the more I think about it, the more I wonder if Shummer’s aim is to do damage control rather than for profit (money from the Saudi.). By that I mean is he trying to prevent the creation of a brouhaha that will reveal something much more damaging to the establishment rather than to its allies?
      As it is, the bill caused the Saudi to threaten financial consequences ALONGSIDE making claims that the US government is behind 9/11.
      If there were a kernel of truth regarding US involvement/passivity before pre-knowledge of the attacks, and IF there were another kernel of truth to Patriot’s claims that Israel were involved, then Schummer (by his position in the administration and in New York and by his proximity to Israel and am sure to its intelligence apparatus) is unavoidably linked to either case and should therefor be very involved in making sure no ish hits the fan.
      Otherwise, the risks to his brand he takes by sinking this bill are too costly to be explained by just monetary profit.

  4. Paul,

    I agree. We deserve to see everything no matter who is implicated.

  5. Yes, it does make one think there may be something to hide! What’s not being hidden is the corruption of Congress and the President and the judiciary to stop justice. The US just gets scarier every day.

    This is a real betrayal of all citizens. Several commissioners have already acknowledged that the Saudi royal family was involved. I wish they would leak the 28 pages. However, I understand this would be risking their lives and the lives of their family to do so.

    This shows the war on “terror” is a complete lie. We should be bombing and regime changing in Saudi Arabia under the AUMF. Instead we sell them our best weapons and they are our BFF’s.

    Now, I do not really believe the US should bomb or regime change Saudi Arabia. Terrorism is a criminal matter which should be handled by civilian criminal courts. But I don’t think anyone should believe US officials when they use AUMF and the “war on terror” to bomb and regime change other nations. That lie is exposed and citizens should not tolerate or support such lies.

    1. Jill – it has been reported that the FBI has 30,000+ pages of stuff on the House of Saud and 9/11. It would be interesting to see that.

Comments are closed.