High court rejects appeal over remains of unidentified 9/11 victims
The Supreme Court has rejected efforts by some families of 9/11 victims to ensure material from the fallen World Trade Towers is treated respectfully because it could contain ashes of those who perished in the terrorist attacks.
The justices opened their new term Monday, issuing orders in several thousands cases that had piled up over their three-month summer recess.
Among the cases was a lawsuit against New York City officials who were responsible for transporting an estimated 1.65 million tons of scrap material and debris from the site in lower Manhattan. Lower federal courts had turned aside a lawsuit against the city.
City officials said they went through 10 months of painstaking hand and mechanical sifting of the material for any signs of human remains and personal belongings before the material was shipped to a Staten Island landfill.
Family members claimed about 223,000 tons of the material was never screened -- or wasn't screened properly -- and a landfill is not a proper resting place for possible victims of the worst domestic terror attack in U.S. history. They wanted a more thorough processing of material, and better accounting of what work was conducted.
The process of identifying human remains continues in the city medical examiner's office, but court records show no remains have been uncovered or yet identified for about 1,100 of the 2,752 people killed at the site on September 11, 2001....
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The justices opened their new term Monday, issuing orders in several thousands cases that had piled up over their three-month summer recess.
Among the cases was a lawsuit against New York City officials who were responsible for transporting an estimated 1.65 million tons of scrap material and debris from the site in lower Manhattan. Lower federal courts had turned aside a lawsuit against the city.
City officials said they went through 10 months of painstaking hand and mechanical sifting of the material for any signs of human remains and personal belongings before the material was shipped to a Staten Island landfill.
Family members claimed about 223,000 tons of the material was never screened -- or wasn't screened properly -- and a landfill is not a proper resting place for possible victims of the worst domestic terror attack in U.S. history. They wanted a more thorough processing of material, and better accounting of what work was conducted.
The process of identifying human remains continues in the city medical examiner's office, but court records show no remains have been uncovered or yet identified for about 1,100 of the 2,752 people killed at the site on September 11, 2001....