WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on April 22, 2026, that a lawsuit brought by Army Specialist Winston Hencely against military contractor Fluor Corporation under South Carolina law is not preempted by federal law. Six justices concluded in Hencely v. Fluor Corporation that the lawsuit does not need to be dismissed before any court determines whether Fluor should be liable.

The case arose from a 2016 Veterans Day celebration at Bagram Airfield, a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, where a suicide bomber named Ahmad Nayeb detonated an explosion that killed five people and wounded 17 more. Hencely, one of the wounded, confronted the bomber and attempted to question him, causing Nayeb to set off his suicide vest shortly after Hencely approached him. The Army said Hencely's actions likely prevented a far greater tragedy because he stopped Nayeb from triggering the explosion in a location where it could have killed more people.

Hencely is now permanently disabled from skull and brain injuries suffered during the bombing. He sued Fluor Corporation, the military contractor that employed Nayeb, claiming the company violated South Carolina law by failing to adequately supervise Nayeb.

All three of the Court's Democratic justices joined the majority, along with Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the dissenting opinion, which was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The legal issue concerned the constitutional principle of preemption, which dictates that federal law prevails over conflicting state law. Writing for the majority, Justice Thomas described the policy under which Nayeb had been hired. "The 'Afghan First' program sought to stimulate the local economy and stabilize the Afghan Government by requiring contractors to hire Afghans 'to the maximum extent possible,'" Thomas wrote.

In dissent, Alito wrote that the military had decided that long-term foreign policy and defense objectives justified the risk that an Afghan national might use limited access to a U.S. military facility to commit a terrorist attack.