Supreme Court allows soldier injured in Bagram suicide bombing to sue contractor | CNN Politics

The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with an Army specialist who was severely injured by a suicide bomber on Bagram Air Base and is attempting to sue a military contractor for failing to supervise the Afghan employee who carried out the attack. The 6-3 decision, which split the court’s conservatives and was written by Justice Clarence Thomas, will allow Winston T. Hencely, who was 20 years old when he confronted the attacker in a 2016 incident, to continue to pursue his lawsuit for damages. Hencely lost full use of his left arm, left hand and left side of his face after the attack, which killed five soldiers and civilians and wounded more than a dozen others. His lawyers said he endures chronic pain, cognitive disorders, memory loss and anxiety. The bomber was later identified as Ahmad Nayeb, an Afghan national who was working at a vehicle maintenance yard for a military contractor. Hencely sued the contractor, Fluor Corporation, and a subcontractor for failing to properly vet and supervise Afghan employees. “The government required Fluor to hire Afghan employees and to provide logistics for Bagram Airfield,” Thomas wrote for the court. “But, it did not, Hencely contends, r