The high office held by Saudi Arabia's crown prince should be immune from lawsuits for his role in the killing of a U.S.-based journalist, according to the Biden administration.
The prince's official standing should give him immunity from a lawsuit filed by the fiancée of a murdered journalist and a rights group he founded.
A judge will make a decision on whether to grant immunity. As Saudi Arabia retaliates against peaceful critics at home and abroad, it is bound to anger human rights activists and many U.S. lawmakers.
The State Department said the administration's decision to protect the Saudi crown prince was a legal determination.
What the State Department said was longstanding precedent. The State Department said in its filing that it takes no view on the merits of the case and reiterates its condemnation of the murder of the journalist.
Saudi officials killed a critic of the kingdom. They are thought to have dismembered him. According to the U.S. intelligence community, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia approved the killing of the well-known and respected journalist, who was critical of Prince Mohammed.
Visa restrictions and other penalties were meted out to lower-ranking Saudi officials in the death.
The State Department said that the United States Government had grave concerns about the responsibility of Saudi agents for the murder of the journalist. The crown prince's alleged role was not mentioned.
As a candidate, Biden said he would make a "pariah" out of Saudi rulers.
Biden said in a CNN town hall that he thought it was a murder. We should have nailed it as that. At the time, I said there should be consequences for how we deal with the power.
Biden bumped fists with Prince Mohammed during a July trip to the kingdom as the U.S. tries to convince Saudi Arabia to reverse its oil production cuts.
The crown prince, his top aides and others were sued in Washington federal court over their alleged roles in the killing of the journalist. The prince was not involved in the killing, according to Saudi Arabia.
The head of DAWN said in a statement that it was ironic that President Biden promised the American people he would do everything to hold him accountable when he was president.
In February of 2021, Biden ruled out the U.S. government punishing Prince Mohammed for his role in the death of the journalist. After authorizing the release of a declassified version of the intelligence community's findings on Prince Mohammed's role in the killing, Biden argued that there was no precedent for the US to move against the leader of a strategic partner.
Saudi Arabia has been safeguarded by the U.S. military in exchange for keeping global oil markets afloat.
It's impossible to read the Biden administration's move as anything more than a capitulation to Saudi pressure tactics.
The judge in Washington gave the U.S. government until midnight Thursday to give an opinion on the claim by the crown prince's lawyers.
It was possible for the Biden administration to not state an opinion at all.
States and their officials are protected from legal proceedings in other foreign states' domestic courts under the concept of sovereignty immunity.
The idea of sovereignty immunity helps ensure that American leaders don't have to worry about being sued in other countries.
If the Biden administration supported the crown prince's claim that his high office protected him from prosecution, it would embolden other authoritarian leaders around the world.
The defacto ruler of Saudi Arabia is Prince Mohammed. In September, the Saudi king temporarily gave up his title of prime minister to Prince Mohammed. Critics said it was a ploy to strengthen Mohammed's claim.
That's right, that's right.
The contributors were Eric Tucker and Aamer Madhani.
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