Liberal justices on the Supreme Court sided with Justice Clarence Thomas in a 6–3 decision allowing a lawsuit tied to a Taliban suicide bombing in Afghanistan to move forward, vacating a lower court ruling.
Thomas, writing for the majority, rejected a broad “battlefield preemption” theory that could have blocked state-law claims involving conduct in combat zones. The case was brought by former U.S. Army specialist Winston Hencely, who suffered severe injuries in a 2016 suicide bombing at Bagram Airfield. Justices Alito, Roberts, and Kavanaugh dissented.
