EIGHT CO-PLAINTIFFS CONTEST RULING DENYING CITIZENS RIGHT TO GIVE EVIDENCE OF CONTROLLED DEMOLITION AND EXPLOSIVES USED TO DESTROY THE WORLD TRADE CENTER TOWERS TO A GRAND JURY

Dear Friends:

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…MORE

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.

Thank you.

David R. Meiswinkle, Esq.
President/Executive Director
Lawyers’ Committee for 9/11 Inquiry

Mick Harrison, Attorney at Law
Litigation Director
Lawyers’ Committee for 9/11 Inquiry