Obama Vetoes Bill That Would Let 9/11 Victims Sue Saudi Arabia

Possible override by Congress looms
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 23, 2016 3:56 PM CDT
Obama Vetoes Bill That Would Let 9/11 Victims Sue Saudi Arabia
President Obama has vetoed a bill that would have allowed the families of 9/11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

President Obama has vetoed a bill that would have allowed the families of 9/11 victims to sue the government of Saudi Arabia, the AP reports. 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. Obama says the bill would "upset longstanding international principles regarding sovereign immunity." The bill would have given 9/11 families the right to sue in US court for any role that elements of the Saudi government may have played in the attacks. Fifteen of the 19 men who carried out the attacks were Saudi nationals. (More Barack Obama stories.)

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