The US House of Representatives has passed legislation that would allow the victims' families of the September 11th attacks to sue Saudi Arabia's government for compensation. The White House has signaled opposition to the measure, as the legislation would waive the doctrine of sovereign immunity that protects nation states from civil suits or criminal prosecution.

Under the current law, victims of terrorism can only sue countries officially designated by the State Department as terrorism sponsors. And, despite that 15 of 19 hijackers in the 9-eleven attacks were Saudi nationals, no official link has been proven to implicate Saudi Arabia in the Al-Qaeda-led attacks.