In an interesting turn of events, Congress has done something that made them more popular than President Obama. Congress voted overwhelmingly last Wednesday to override Obama's veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which would allow the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia. The bill had a good deal of support from the public, while the White House was strongly opposed to it.

The bill originated in the Senate who passed it in May, and then was passed in the House last month. Ten days later, President Obama vetoed the bill, stating concerns about the dangerous precedent it set and the protection of U.S. officials and military personnel overseas from lawsuits if other nations began similar, retaliatory measures.

This past week, both houses of Congress voted well above the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto, with the Senate voting 97-1 and the House voting 348-77.

In addition to the White House, Saudi Arabia lobbied hard against the bill, even going so far as to threaten to unload billions of dollars worth of assets inside the U.S. (although some economists said this would do more harm to the Saudi economy than ours).

Opponents to the bill, such as the President, say it is a dangerous precedent to challenge the legal doctrine of sovereign immunity, which stipulates that a state is immune from civil suits or criminal prosecution in another state's courts. But proponents state that the law is very narrowly drafted so as to not challenge the whole legal doctrine.

Additionally, they cite the fact that there are currently exceptions to sovereign immunity, such as for states on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

It also wouldn't be the first time U.S. citizens were allowed to sue a foreign state. After the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, families of the victims brought a lawsuit against Libya.

The connection of the Saudi Arabian government itself to 9/11 is disputed, but it is considered highly likely that some top officials and members of the royal family may have had connections to al-Qaeda and the terrorists who carried out the attack. For the U.S. Congress, as well as the American people, this law will allow the victims' families to achieve some kind of justice for the hardship they had to endure.