State attorneys general seek Supreme Court intervention for 9/11 victims

A bipartisan coalition of 30 state attorneys general, led by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and including Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, has filed a friend of the court brief with the United States Supreme Court. The group is demanding that victims and families of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks be allowed to access frozen Taliban funds to satisfy legal judgments.

While federal courts have issued approximately $17 billion in final judgments against the Taliban following decades of litigation, the Second Circuit ruled that $3.5 billion in Taliban-controlled funds located near Ground Zero is currently inaccessible. This ruling was based on the fact that the U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets eight days before the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan’s national bank.

The coalition argues that the Second Circuit misapplied congressional statutes. They contend that under federal law, any assets held in the United States belonging to a terrorist party—including blocked funds—must be available to fulfill judgments won by victims of terrorism, regardless of the specific timing of the Taliban’s takeover of the Afghan government.