Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. November 26, 2001 Kenneth L. Zwick, Director Office of Management Programs Civil Division U.S. Department of Justice Main Building , Room 3140 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20530 Re: Comments on the Department of Justice's Rulemaking Regarding the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 The America Civil Liberties Union respectfully submits the following commnents in response to the Department's November 5, 2001 Notice of Inquiry and Advanced Notice of Rulemaking Re: the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. The ACLU urges the Attorney General to make the Fund available to same-sex partners of deceased victims. Unless the Attorney General takes that step, same-sex partners will have no choice but to have the courts apply the authorizing statue's choice of law rule to order relief under the laws of states that recognize the right of a same-sex partner to recover for the death of his or her partner. The purpose of the September 11th Fund is to provide victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks with the ability to recover relatively quick and certain compensation from the government in exchange for a waiver of claims they might otherwise have against the airlines or other entities that may have been negligent or otherwise culpable in the hours, days, or weeks leading up to the attacks. To encourage the maximum number of potential claimants to elect compensation through the Fund instead of through the courts, the Fund must be designed to ensure that all potential claimants who could recover in court could also recover through the Fund. One action the Department can take to encourage the maximum number of potential claimants to elect compensation through the Fund rather than through the courts is to ensure that the regulations implementing the Fund recognize same-sex partners of decedents or injured parties as potential beneficiaries of the Fund. Failure to do this could have far-reaching ripple effects: For every individual who cannot recover for his or her loss through the Fund, at least one more piece of litigation will likely result in the courts. Same-sex partnes, if excluded from the scope of the Fund, could pursue litigation based on the laws of many states, including states whose laws already do or are likely to recognize same-sex relationships. The Fund's authorizing legislation provides that anyone electing to seek compensation in court, as opposed to through the Fund, must bring suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. See Section 408(b)(3). However, the legislation also provides that the "substantive law for decision in any such suit shall be derived from the law, including choice of law principles, of the State in which the crash occured...." Section 408(b)(2) (emphasis added). While the crashes occurred in New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the choice of law rules of those states could easily result in the application of other states' law to the disputes. For example, the law of Massachusetts or New Jersey could apply, since the planes took off from Boston and Newark as well as Dulles, The law of Washington state could apply, since some of the planes were manufactured and fitted with inadequate cockpit doors there. And the law of a variety of other states, including California, could apply, since machines such as the x-ray machines used to examine luggage or metal detectors used to screen people prior to boarding the planes were likely manufactured in many different locales. Thus the law of at least five states, but most likely that of many more states, may ultimately determine who can sue to recover for the losses occuring on September 11th. These states include New Jersey, whose law would allow a same-sex partner to recover for the death of his or her partner, and California, which has provided the same rights through case law and statute. In addition, if same-sex partners are excluded from recovery through the Fund, they will have no choice but to pursue what we believe will be powerful state and federal constitutional attacks on any state laws that would exclude them from recovery by failing to recognize their committed relationships with the deceased. For the foregoing reasons, the ACLU urges the Attorney General to redue the likelihood of what could be a new flood of litigation by ensuring that same-sex partners of victims of September 11th be eligible for recovery through the Fund. Thank you for your attention to these comments. Please do not hesitate to call us if you need any additonal information regarding this matter. Repsectfully submitted, Comments by: ACLU September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-26 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojW000740.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-11-26