Lawyers'
Committee Litigation Director Mick
Harrison recently filed, on behalf of
eight co-plaintiffs an Appeal Brief in
the United States Court of Appeal for
the Second Circuit concerning the
dismissal by Judge Paul G. Gardephe of
the U.S. District Court for the
Southern District in Manhattan of
Plaintiffs' complaint on Article III
standing grounds. The complaint seeks
to compel the United States Attorney
for the Southern District to present
to a Grand Jury evidence of controlled
demolitions and explosives used to
destroy the World Trade Center
Towers.
“Standing”
is the legal right for a particular
person or organization to bring a
claim in court. A plaintiff must
establish that they meet the legal
criteria for standing. This generally
involves demonstrating an injury and a
direct connection of that injury to
the defendants' actions..
The
co-plaintiffs are: Robert McIlvaine
who lost his son, Diana Hetzel who
lost her husband, a fire fighter,
Jeanne Evans who lost her brother, a
firefighter, Michael O' Kelly, a NYC
Hazmat fire chief who lost his health
and has permanent lung damage from
working on the Ground Zero piles,
Former Fire Commissioner, Nassau
County Christopher Gioia who also
worked on the piles and lost close
friends who were fire fighters,
Richard Gage, President and Founder of
Architects & Engineers, and two
non profit corporations whose missions
are dedicated to 9/11transparency, The
Lawyers Committee for 9/11 Inquiry and
Architects & Engineers for 9/11
Truth.
The
Plaintiffs made four claims. One
claim (Count II) against the United
States Attorney General and the United
States Attorney for the Southern
District concerns their violation of
Plaintiff's rights to Petition the
Government under the First Amendment
of the United States Constitution by
refusing to present Plaintiff's
Petition to a Federal Special Grand
Jury. Their obstruction created an
injury in fact and an invasion of the
Plaintiffs legally protected interest,
the right to Petition the Government.
The
Plaintiffs also state claims(Counts
III and IV) under the federal mandamus
statute and the Administrative
Procedures Act which both seek to
compel the United States Attorney to
comply with the mandatory duty
pursuant to 18 USC 3332(a) to submit
evidence of federal crimes, in this
case dispositive of controlled
demolition and explosives used to
destroy the World Trade Center Towers
to a Federal Grand Jury.
Another
claim was brought under both the
Plaintiffs' common law right to
access public records and the First
Amendment right to petition the court
for access to grand jury related
records. This claim sought the release
of grand jury records that would give
to the Plaintiffs an indication that
their Petition was in fact being
presented such as some ministerial
Grand Jury record which would not
violate or compromise any secret
proceeding of the Grand Jury.
The
Defendants have approximately thirty
days to respond from the Appeal Brief
filing date.
Please
support the Lawyers' Committee in its
investigative and litigation efforts
to bring government transparency and
accountability to the crimes of 9/11.
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