9/11 families' Saudi Arabia case heard on appeal

Key Takeaways

The hearing	On Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, a Second Circuit panel in New York heard Saudi Arabia ask to be dismissed from the civil case. The judges did not rule.
The 2025 order	On Aug. 28, 2025, U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels denied that request. He wrote that the families had made a jurisdictional showing, and that he was not deciding liability.
Two employees	The order focuses on Omar al-Bayoumi and Fahad al-Thumairy and their contact in 2000 with hijackers Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar. Saudi Arabia denies any role in the attacks.
No ruling date	The panel took the appeal under advisement. ABC News reported that lawyers in the case do not expect a decision until early 2027.

A three-judge panel heard the 9/11 families' Saudi Arabia case on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, and gave no decision. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York heard the kingdom seek dismissal of the civil suit. The families asked the judges to keep an Aug. 28, 2025 order, the BBC and NBC News reported.

Judge Daniels' order of Aug. 28, 2025

On Aug. 28, 2025, U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels refused to dismiss the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. His 45-page order in the Southern District of New York covers In re Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001, No. 03-md-1570, under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA).

The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) blocks suits against a foreign state unless Congress creates an exception. JASTA, enacted in 2016, allows damages for a death or injury in the United States caused by international terrorism when an employee committed a tort while doing the job.

Daniels wrote that the families had to show injury, a job-related tort, causation and damages. Saudi Arabia did not dispute injury or damages. The open question was whether two employees were acting for the kingdom.

He dismissed the kingdom on Sept. 29, 2015. The Second Circuit vacated that ruling on Feb. 7, 2017, after JASTA, so he could apply the new statute. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn later oversaw the discovery.

The BBC said the families first sued in 2002. The New York Post and The Independent said 2004. Daniels wrote that Saudi Arabia first moved to dismiss in 2004. His order decides jurisdiction, not liability. He kept the case because the kingdom had not proved the JASTA exception does not apply.

Bayoumi, Thumairy and two hijackers

The order centers on Omar al-Bayoumi and Fahad al-Thumairy, and on hijackers Nawaf al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar. Saudi Arabia sent Bayoumi to San Diego in 1994. He worked for its civil aviation agency from 1977 until he retired in April 2014. Daniels wrote that the technician title did not match the work.

Thumairy arrived on a diplomatic visa in 1996 and was an imam at the King Fahad Mosque in Los Angeles from 1998. Bayoumi testified he was never a Saudi intelligence officer. The families say he was. Daniels did not adopt that label, but wrote that both jobs look broader than the titles.

Hazmi and Mihdhar arrived in Los Angeles in January 2000. Bayoumi then helped with an apartment, cash and a lease, and a pay raise the kingdom did not explain, the order says. A page in his handwriting showed an airplane, notes and numbers. Saudi Arabia called it a school assignment. Daniels wrote that it "facially connects Bayoumi with knowledge of the 9/11 Attacks," while the parties still dispute the meaning.

He rejected two of the families' readings. The welcome-party video did not center the hijackers, and Washington footage showed a visit, not proof of casing the Capitol. He did find "a reasonable inference" that the housing help was "not just acts of a good Samaritan, but rather that he was following KSA's instructions." The order uses KSA for the kingdom, and it calls the finding preliminary.

What judges asked in the 9/11 families' Saudi Arabia case

Judges Guido Calabresi, William Nardini and Eunice Lee heard the appeal in lower Manhattan on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, the New York Post reported. It ran about 90 minutes, the Post and ABC News reported.

Gregory Rapawy, a lawyer for Saudi Arabia, said the kingdom "has never supported its enemy, Al Qaeda, against its ally, the United States," the Post reported. He argued that Bayoumi's job must be decided before immunity is lost, the BBC reported. NBC News and the Associated Press reported that the government has long denied any role in the attacks.

Gavin Simpson, a lawyer for the families, said Bayoumi was "following Saudi Arabia's instructions when assisting the hijackers," and that Saudi Arabia had "failed to rebut" the district court's findings, the BBC reported. Judge Calabresi asked whom the kingdom could call if testimony were ordered. Rapawy said "we would have to see" about Bayoumi, the BBC reported.

Judge Nardini said, "Thank you all. It's a difficult case and we will take it under advisement," the Post reported. Terry Strada, national chair of 9/11 Families United, whose husband, Tom, died at the World Trade Center, told the Associated Press, "It really was a good day for us."

What the Second Circuit has not decided

The panel set no date. ABC News reported that lawyers do not expect a ruling until early 2027, and that a family win could mean a trial as soon as 2027. The court has not set that schedule.

If the Second Circuit agrees with Daniels, the merits go back to him. A reversal would drop Saudi Arabia from the case. The BBC said the judges also discussed sending the facts back for live witnesses. Which path they will take, and whether either man will testify, is not known.

Iran, the Taliban and Al Qaeda are already in default in the wider litigation, NBC News and the Associated Press reported. The 9/11 Commission reported more than 2,600 deaths at the World Trade Center, 125 at the Pentagon and 256 on the four planes. The Associated Press reported that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. These counts are not a ruling on the Saudi state.