Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has joined a bipartisan coalition of 31 state attorneys general urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case involving efforts by September 11 victims and their families to collect billions of dollars in court judgments against the Taliban.
The coalition filed an amicus brief supporting victims and families who have secured approximately $17 billion in final judgments against the Taliban in federal courts, in some cases following more than two decades of litigation.
“Sixty-nine Marylanders were among the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives on 9/11,” Brown said. “We are urging the Supreme Court to hear this case so that families and survivors of that horrific day can collect what they are owed from billions in frozen Taliban assets.”
At issue are approximately $3.5 billion in Taliban-controlled funds held in the United States. The Second Circuit ruled that the funds are beyond the reach of those seeking to collect judgments because the U.S. Department of the Treasury froze the assets eight days before the Taliban-controlled government took over Afghanistan’s central bank.
The coalition argues that the ruling misinterprets federal law and that blocked assets belonging to a terrorist party can be used to satisfy judgments obtained by victims of terrorism, regardless of when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
Brown was joined by attorneys general from 30 other states in filing the brief asking the Supreme Court to take up the case.
