Merrick Garland in Christian Science Monitor

On Homeland Security: Let Abu Ghraib torture victims sue their torturers

A group of former detainees at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq will not be able to sue military contractors who they say participated in torture and other illegal acts of abuse in 2003-4. The suit raised the issue of whether private contractors hired by the military to perform services in a war zone may be held accountable. A federal appeals court dismissed the case, ruling 2-1 that claims against the contractors were precluded under a doctrine called "battlefield preemption."

In a dissent, Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland said he would allow the Iraqi detainees' lawsuit to move forward against both military contractors. "No act of Congress and no judicial precedent bars the plaintiffs from suing the private contractors--who were neither soldiers nor civilian government employees," Garland wrote. "Employees of private contractors accompanying the Armed Forces in the field are NOT within the military's chain of command, and such contractors ARE subject to civil liability."

Source: Christian Science Monitor: 2016 SCOTUS confirmation hearings Jun 27, 2011

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