Federal appeals judges don’t reveal how they’ll rule on Saudi Arabia’s effort to end 9/11 litigation

Read the original at NBC News ↗
NBC News · collected 2026-10-07 · by The Associated Press

Quick Summary

On Wednesday, family members of September 11 victims gathered at a federal appeals courtroom in New York City for hearings where judges questioned whether legal claims against Saudi Arabia can move forward to trial. The plaintiffs allege that Saudi Arabia aided two of the hijackers involved in the attacks; however, the judges did not provide a timeline for their decision on this matter. Terry Strada, whose husband was among those killed in the 9/11 attacks, expressed optimism after witnessing the proceedings and noting the rigorous questioning directed at Saudi attorneys by the appeals court judges.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-07, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Around 100 family members of 9/11 victims packed a 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals courtroom in lower Manhattan on September 7 to challenge Saudi Arabia's efforts to avoid liability for aiding the hijackers. The families, many of whom lost loved ones that day, expressed frustration with Riyadh’s denial of culpability despite evidence linking Saudi government agents to the Al Qaeda hijackers. Terry Strada, whose husband Tom died in the attacks, called the Saudi bid to dodge blame "outrageous." The case stems from a lower court ruling last August allowing families to sue Saudi Arabia due to “reasonable evidence” of support for some terrorists involved in 9/11. Despite this, Riyadh claims sovereign immunity and denies prior knowledge of the attacks. The three judges hearing the case did not indicate when they might rule but asked probing questions that encouraged victims' relatives like Strada, who said it was a "good day" as the judges pressed Saudi attorneys on their arguments.

Written for “9 11 Families Versus Saudi Arabia” on 2026-10-07, grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.30, but all 1 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 64111: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-07

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
14
claim-shaped sentences
Uncertain
43%
6 of 14 hedged
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Correction & hedging signals
95.2
corrections and hedging in what we collected; not a measure of accuracy
Outlets on this story
3
Politics
Narrative spread
1
articles carrying this framing
Analyzed 2026-10-07 · how these are computed

Story

📰 9 11 Families Versus Saudi Arabia
Politics · 3 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 43% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
New York Post
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 17% hedged 3 of 18 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles describe the same court hearing on October 7, 2026, in New York City involving family members of 9/11 victims and Saudi Arabia's legal efforts to avoid blame.”
The Independent
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 46% hedged 6 of 13 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe the same appeals court hearing on October 7, 2026, involving family members of 9/11 victims and legal claims against Saudi Arabia.”

Publisher

NBC News · 1106 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

The Associated Press
965 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 They didn’t say when they might rule on whether claims can proceed to trial alleging that Saudi Arabia provided aid to at least two of the 19 men who hijacked planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field that day.
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Wire or desk byline, not an individual reporter.
Also by The Associated Press
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 965 articles by The Associated Press →

Topics

9/11 Saudi Saudi Arabia Saudis al-Qaida

Subjects

Saudi Arabia GPE · 5× Saudi NORP · 3× Saudis NORP · 2× U.S. GPE · 2× al-Qaida ORG · 2× New York City GPE · 1× Pennsylvania GPE · 1× Terry Strada PERSON · 1× Tom Strada PERSON · 1× al-Qaida’s ORG · 1×

Narrative

Still, Terry Strada, whose husband Tom Strada was killed in the attacks, said she was encouraged that more than 100 family members of 9/11 victims turned out and by the judges’ questions.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-07
🔮 They didn’t say when they might rule on whether claims can proceed to trial alleging that Saudi Arabia provided aid to at least two of the 19 men who hijacked planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field that day.

Claims (14 extracted, 6 hedged)

Family members of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks packed a federal appeals courtroom in New York City on Wednesday as three judges heard arguments over whether legal claims against Saudi Arabia can proceed. uncertain
claims → pack → Arabia
The judges revealed through their questions that there are still many legal issues to be decided in the lawsuit even though it has dragged on for almost a quarter-century. asserted
it → reveal → century
They didn’t say when they might rule on whether claims can proceed to trial alleging that Saudi Arabia provided aid to at least two of the 19 men who hijacked planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field that day. uncertain
who → say → Center
Still, Terry Strada, whose husband Tom Strada was killed in the attacks, said she was encouraged that more than 100 family members of 9/11 victims turned out and by the judges’ questions. asserted
members → kill → questions
“It really was a good day for us,” she said afterward. asserted
she → say → us
“The judges asked really meaningful questions and hammered the Saudi attorneys and didn’t let up. asserted
judges → ask → attorneys
They weren’t buying what the Saudis were selling. asserted
Saudis → buy → what
In lawsuits, hundreds of victims’ relatives and injured survivors, along with insurance companies and businesses, claim that employees of the Saudi government directly and knowingly assisted the hijackers and other plotters and fueled al-Qaida’s development into a terrorist organization by funding charities that supported them. uncertain
that → injure → them
Some defendants, including Iran, the Taliban and al-Qaida, already have been found in default. asserted
defendants → include → default
On Wednesday, lawyers from both sides were questioned repeatedly by the appeals judges who seemed unsure exactly how they would respond to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s claims that it should be dismissed as a defendant on sovereign immunity grounds. uncertain
it → question → grounds
Lawyers for Saudi Arabia say the nation and the U.S. were partners in the 1990s against terrorism, al-Qaida and its founder, Osama bin Laden. asserted
nation → say → terrorism
Although 15 of the 19 attackers on 9/11 were Saudis, the Saudi government has long denied any involvement in the attacks. asserted
government → deny → attacks
Lawyers for victims’ relatives claim that a group of extremist religious leaders in Saudi Arabia aided the hijackers. uncertain
group → claim → hijackers
The appeal by Saudi Arabia stemmed from an August 2025 ruling by U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels, who decided that the case could proceed in federal court, though he did not rule on the merits of the claims. uncertain
he → stem → claims
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