Justices won't hear appeal of 9/11 families

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By Tom LoBianco

The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal from family members of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks seeking damages from members of the Saudi royal family, whom the lawsuit accused of financing al Qaeda.

Family members and commercial insurers joined in the lawsuit targeting four Saudi princes who they say are responsible for financing the terrorist network through a series of Muslim charities. Several lower courts had ruled that the princes, as part of a foreign government, cannot be sued in U.S. courts.

The Obama administration angered family members last month when Solicitor General Elena Kagan filed a brief urging the court not to hear the case.

The Supreme Court's decision upholds a lower court ruling that the princes enjoy sovereign immunity from prosecution.

"It's safe to say the families are deeply frustrated and disappointed in the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case," said Jodi Flowers, a lawyer with Motley Rice, one of the firms representing the families.

The court did not comment on why it is not taking the case.

"The lower courts correctly concluded that Saudi Arabia and its officials are immune from suit for governmental acts outside the United States," Ms. Kagan wrote in her brief, considered the official position of the U.S. government.

Lawyers for the families argued that the four princes' involvement in financing charitable organizations that funneled money to al Qaeda made them responsible, in part, for the Sept. 11 attacks.

"It seemed to me to be a message to the court that said: 'We don't want to open this can of worms,' " said Debra Burlingame, co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America.

The Sept. 11 families have been critical of the Obama White House, which has publicly spent more time focusing on health care reform and climate legislation than on the thorny issues of how to handle terror suspects being held at the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and how to track terrorist financing networks.