A day after the Senate and House voted to override President Obama’s veto of legislation to allow families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest made a statement about Congress’ action.
Senator Schumer (potentially the next leader of the democratic caucus in the Senate when Senator Reid retires) declared, ” it was important in this case that the families of the victims of 9/11 be allowed to pursue justice, even if that pursuit causes some diplomatic discomforts.” Discomforts? That legislation poses a serious national security threat to U.S. officials and military personnel stationed abroad by exposing to similar lawsuits. Their actions just turned “diplomatic immunity privileges” on its ugly head. In addition to what he said in the above video, Josh Earnest called the vote “the single most embarrassing thing the United States Senate has done possibly since 1983,” when Congress overwhelmingly voted to override President Reagan’s veto of an Oregon land transfer bill.
The bill would allow courts to waive claims to foreign sovereign immunity in situations involving acts of terrorism on U.S. soil. The Senate vote was 97 to 1 and the House tally was 348 to 77. All that remains now is to watch how many sovereign nations start disallowing claims of foreign sovereign immunity for our diplomats and service members and start proceedings to lock them away in foreign prisons.