Suhail Al Shimari v. CACI Premier Technology, Inc.

PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 15-1831

SUHAIL NAJIM ABDULLAH AL SHIMARI; TAHA YASEEN ARRAQ RASHID;
SALAH HASAN NUSAIF AL-EJAILI; ASA’AD HAMZA HANFOOSH AL-
ZUBA’E,

Plaintiffs - Appellants,

and

SA’AD HAMZA HANTOOSH AL-ZUBA’E,

Plaintiff,

v.

CACI PREMIER TECHNOLOGY, INC.,

Defendant – Appellee,

and

TIMOTHY DUGAN; CACI INTERNATIONAL, INC.; L-3 SERVICES, INC.,

Defendants.

-----------------------------------

PROFESSORS OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND FEDERAL COURTS; JUAN E.
MENDEZ, U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON TORTURE; RETIRED MILITARY
OFFICERS; AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION, AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL, AND HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH; ALBERTO MORA, FORMER
GENERAL COUNSEL, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY; ABUKAR HASSAN
AHMED, DR. JUAN ROMAGOZA ARCE, ZITA CABELLO, AZIZ MOHAMED
DERIA, CARLOS MAURICIO, GLORIA REYES, OSCAR REYES, CECILIA
SANTOS MORAN, ZENAIDA VELASQUEZ, AND BASHE ABDI YOUSUF,

Amici Supporting Appellants,
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES COUNCIL - THE VOICE OF THE GOVERNMENT
SERVICES INDUSTRY; COALITION FOR GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT;
KBR, INC.,

Amici Supporting Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Gerald Bruce Lee, District
Judge. (1:08-cv-00827-GBL-JFA)

Argued: May 12, 2016 Decided: October 21, 2016

Before KEENAN, FLOYD, and THACKER, Circuit Judges.

Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Judge Keenan wrote
the opinion, in which Judge Floyd and Judge Thacker joined.
Judge Floyd wrote a separate concurring opinion.

ARGUED: Baher Azmy, CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, New York,
New York, for Appellants. John Frederick O’Connor, Jr., STEPTOE
& JOHNSON, LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellee. ON BRIEF:
Katherine Gallagher, CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, New York,
New York; Robert P. LoBue, PATTERSON BELKNAP WEBB & TYLER LLP,
New York, New York; Shereef Hadi Akeel, AKEEL & VALENTINE, P.C.,
Troy, Michigan; Jeena Shah, CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS &
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CLINIC, Newark, New Jersey, for
Appellants. Stephen I. Vladeck, Washington, D.C.; Charles S.
Barquist, Los Angeles, California, Betre M. Gizaw, MORRISON &
FOERSTER LLP, Washington, D.C., for Amici Professors of
Constitutional Law and Federal Courts. Eric L. Lewis, A.
Katherine Toomey, James P. Davenport, Waleed Nassar, LEWIS BAACH
PLLC, Washington, D.C.; Melissa Hooper, HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST, New
York, New York, for Amici Retired Military Officers. Dror
Ladin, Hina Shamsi, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION,
New York, New York, for Amici American Civil Liberties Union
Foundation, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch.
George M. Clarke, III, BAKER & MCKENZIE LLP, Washington, D.C.;
Alberto Mora, Carr Center For Human Rights Policy, HARVARD
KENNEDY SCHOOL, Cambridge, Massachusetts, for Amicus Alberto
Mora. William J. Aceves, CALIFORNIA WESTERN SCHOOL OF LAW, San
Diego, California; Deena R. Hurwitz, International Human Rights

2
Law Clinic, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, Washington, D.C., for Amicus
Juan E. Mendez. L. Kathleen Roberts, Nushin Sarkarati, THE
CENTER FOR JUSTICE & ACCOUNTABILITY, San Francisco, California;
Michael E. Tigar, Oriental, North Carolina; Ali A. Beydoun,
UNROW HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACT LITIGATION CLINIC, Washington, D.C.,
for Amici Abukar Hassan Ahmed, Dr. Juan Romagoza Arce, Zita
Cabello, Aziz Mohamed Deria, Carlos Mauricio, Gloria Reyes,
Oscar Reyes, Cecilia Santos Moran, Zenaida Velasquez, and Bashe
Abdi Yousuf. Lawrence S. Ebner, Lisa N. Himes, Tami Lyn
Azorsky, Jessica C. Abrahams, DENTONS US LLP, Washington, D.C.,
for Amici Professional Services Council-The Voice of the
Government Services Industry, and Coalition for Government
Procurement. Raymond B. Biagini, Daniel L. Russell Jr., Herbert
L. Fenster, COVINGTON & BURLING LLP, Washington, D.C., for
Amicus KBR, Incorporated.

3
BARBARA MILANO KEENAN, Circuit Judge:

Suhail Al Shimari, Taha Rashid, Salah Al-Ejaili, and Asa’ad

Al-Zuba’e (the plaintiffs), four Iraqi nationals, alleged that

they were abused while detained in the custody of the United

States Army at Abu Ghraib prison, located near Baghdad, Iraq, in

2003 and 2004. They were detained beginning in the fall of

2003, and ultimately were released without being charged with a

crime. In 2008, they filed this civil action against CACI

Premier Technology, Inc. (CACI), which provided contract

interrogation services for the military at the time of the

alleged mistreatment.

In their third amended complaint, the plaintiffs alleged

pursuant to the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), 28 U.S.C. § 1350, that

CACI employees committed acts involving torture and war crimes,

and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. The plaintiffs also

asserted various tort claims under the common law, including

assault and battery, sexual assault and battery, and intentional

infliction of emotional distress.

This case is before this Court for the fourth time. In our

most recent decision, we remanded the case to the district court

to conduct jurisdictional discovery on the issue whether the

political question doctrine barred the plaintiffs’ claims. On

remand, after reopening discovery, the district court dismissed

the plaintiffs’ complaint on the ground that it presented a non-

4
justiciable political question. The court based its decision on

three grounds: (1) that the military exercised direct control

over interrogation operations at Abu Ghraib; (2) that

adjudication of the plaintiffs’ claims would require the court

improperly to question sensitive military judgments; and (3)

that the court lacked any judicially manageable standards to

resolve the plaintiffs’ claims.

The plaintiffs once again appeal. Upon our review, we

conclude that the district court erred in its analysis by

failing to determine whether the military exercised actual

control over any of CACI’s alleged conduct. We hold that

conduct by CACI employees that was unlawful when committed is

justiciable, irrespective whether that conduct occurred under

the actual control of the military. We further hold that acts

committed by CACI employees are shielded from judicial review

under the political question doctrine if they were not unlawful

when committed and occurred under the actual control of the

military or involved sensitive military judgments.

We therefore vacate the district court’s judgment. We

remand the case for the district court to re-examine its subject

matter jurisdiction under the political question doctrine in

accordance with the above holdings.

5
 I.

We recounted the circumstances underlying the plaintiffs’

complaint and the complicated procedural history of this case at

length in our previous opinion, Al Shimari v. CACI Premier

Tech., Inc., 758 F.3d 516 (4th Cir. 2014) (Al Shimari III). We

will review here only the facts relevant to the present appeal.

Following the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the United States

took control of Abu Ghraib prison (Abu Ghraib), a facility

located near Baghdad, Iraq that previously was under the control

of Saddam Hussein. Upon assuming control of the facility, the

United States military used the prison to detain criminals,

enemies of the provisional government, and other persons held

for interrogation related to intelligence gathering. Due to a

shortage of military interrogators, the United States government

entered into a contract with CACI to provide additional

interrogation services at Abu Ghraib.

As documented in a later investigation conducted by the

United States Department of Defense, “numerous incidents of

sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on

several detainees” at Abu Ghraib between October and December

2003. Al Shimari III, 758 F.3d at 521 (citing Maj. Gen. Antonio

M. Taguba, Article 15-6 Investigation of the 800th Military

Police Brigade 16 (2004) (Taguba Report)). Department of

Defense investigators concluded that CACI interrogators as well

6
as military personnel engaged in such abusive conduct. Id.

(citing Taguba Report at 48 and Maj. Gen. George R. Fay, Article

15-6 Investigation of the Abu Ghraib Detention Facility and

205th Military Intelligence Brigade 7-8, 84, 86-87, 89, 116-17,

132-35 (2004)). Numerous service members were disciplined

administratively or punished under military law by court martial

for conduct related to these acts. Some service members

received significant terms of imprisonment for their role in

these offenses.

The plaintiffs alleged in their complaint that CACI

interrogators entered into a conspiracy with low-ranking

military police officials to commit abusive acts on the

plaintiffs, in order to “soften up” the detainees so that they

would be more responsive during later interrogations. The

plaintiffs further alleged that they were victims of a wide

range of mistreatment, including being beaten, choked,

“subjected to electric shocks,” “repeatedly shot in the head

with a taser gun,” “forcibly subjected to sexual acts,”

subjected to sensory deprivation, placed in stress positions for

extended periods of time, deprived of food, water, and sleep,

threatened with unleashed dogs and death, and forced to wear

women’s underwear.

Additionally, the plaintiffs alleged that CACI

interrogators “instigated, directed, participated in,

7
encouraged, and aided and abetted conduct towards detainees that

clearly violated the Geneva Conventions, the Army Field Manual,

and the laws of the United States.” According to the

plaintiffs, most of these acts of abuse occurred during the

nighttime shift at the prison, in order to reduce the likelihood

that nonparticipants would learn of this conduct. The

plaintiffs contend that these acts of abuse were possible

because of a “command vacuum” at Abu Ghraib, caused by the

failure of military leaders to exercise effective oversight over

CACI interrogators and military police.

CACI moved to dismiss the plaintiffs’ complaint on several

grounds, including the political question doctrine, federal

preemption, derivative sovereign immunity, and lack of subject

matter jurisdiction under the ATS. The district court denied

the defendants’ motion, holding in part that the plaintiffs’

claims did not present a political question. Nevertheless, the

court concluded that it lacked jurisdiction over the plaintiffs’

ATS claims, because CACI was a private party rather than a

governmental actor, and opined that those claims could only

proceed under diversity or federal question jurisdiction.

On appeal, a panel of this Court concluded that the

plaintiffs’ claims were preempted by federal law under the

Supreme Court’s decision in Boyle v. United Technologies Corp.,

487 U.S. 500 (1988). Al Shimari v. CACI Int’l, Inc., 658 F.3d

8
413 (4th Cir. 2011) (Al Shimari I), vacated, 679 F.3d 205 (4th

Cir. 2012) (en banc). On rehearing en banc, this Court vacated

the panel decision and dismissed CACI’s appeal as interlocutory.

Al Shimari v. CACI Int’l, Inc., 679 F.3d 205 (4th Cir. 2012) (en

banc) (Al Shimari II).

On remand from Al Shimari II, the district court reinstated

the plaintiffs’ ATS claims, but dismissed without prejudice the

plaintiffs’ claims alleging a conspiracy between CACI and the

military. 1 The district court dismissed as barred by the statute

of limitations the common law claims brought by all the

plaintiffs except Al Shimari. In response, the plaintiffs filed

a third amended complaint to supplement their allegations of

conspiracy, limit their common law claims to Al Shimari, and

name CACI as the only defendant. The third amended complaint

(the complaint) is the complaint at issue in this appeal.

In April 2013, shortly after the third amended complaint

was filed, the deadline for discovery on the merits of the

plaintiffs’ claims expired. The same week, the Supreme Court

issued its decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., 133

S. Ct. 1659 (2013), which imposed certain limitations on

extraterritorial application of the ATS. Relying on Kiobel, the

1The court also dismissed with prejudice the plaintiffs’
claims against the parent company of CACI, CACI International,
and the conspiracy claims against individual CACI employees.

9
district court dismissed the plaintiffs’ ATS claims, because the

underlying conduct occurred exclusively in Iraq. The district

court also dismissed Al Shimari’s common law tort claims under

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), holding that Iraqi law

did not permit imposition of liability on CACI.

On appeal from that decision, in Al Shimari III we

concluded that the district court had jurisdiction over the

plaintiffs’ ATS claims under the Supreme Court’s reasoning in

Kiobel. 758 F.3d 516 (4th Cir. 2014). Although CACI also

argued that the case should be dismissed pursuant to the

political question doctrine, we declined to decide the political

question issue based on the limited appellate record available

at the time. Instead, we vacated the district court’s order

dismissing the ATS and common law claims, and remanded the

entire case for the district court to develop the factual record

regarding the extent of the military’s control over CACI

interrogators and whether CACI’s intended defenses raised any

political issues. Id. at 536-37.

On remand from Al Shimari III, the district court reopened

the record for jurisdictional discovery on the issue of the

political question doctrine, although it appears that minimal,

10
if any, additional discovery was taken. 2 As noted above,

following the reopened discovery period, the district court

dismissed all the plaintiffs’ claims under Federal Rule of Civil

Procedure 12(b)(1) on the ground that they presented a non-

justiciable political question. The plaintiffs now appeal the

district court’s dismissal of their complaint on this ground.

II.

The plaintiffs contend that the district court erred in

dismissing their complaint as non-justiciable under the

political question doctrine. They first assert that the

district court erred in finding that the military had direct

control over formal interrogations at Abu Ghraib prison, and in

failing to evaluate whether the military actually exercised such

control during related activities that occurred outside the

formal interrogation process. In the plaintiffs’ view, we are

not presented with a political question, because a “command

vacuum” existed at Abu Ghraib in which the military did not

exercise actual control over the conduct of the military police

and the CACI interrogators.

2
Notably, after eight years of litigation, to date only one
of the plaintiffs has been deposed in this case, because the
United States government has not allowed the plaintiffs to enter
the United States.

11
 The plaintiffs also argue that their claims would not

require the courts to evaluate sensitive military judgments

because the claims challenge the legality, rather than the

reasonableness, of CACI’s conduct. Separately, the plaintiffs

assert that the district court erred in concluding that it

lacked manageable standards for resolving their claims.

In response, CACI contends that the district court properly

concluded that this case presents a political question.

According to CACI, the district court’s finding that the

military exercised control over interrogation operations at Abu

Ghraib ends the issue of justiciability in this case. CACI also

maintains that the district court correctly held that the case

is non-justiciable because judicial review of the interrogation

tactics used would require a court to question sensitive

military judgments. Finally, CACI asserts that the district

court correctly concluded that it lacked manageable standards

for resolving the plaintiffs’ claims. We disagree with CACI’s

arguments.

III.

In reviewing a district court’s dismissal of a claim for

lack of jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure

12(b)(1), we review the court’s factual findings for clear error

and its legal conclusions de novo. In re KBR, Inc., Burn Pit

12
Litig., 744 F.3d 326, 333 (4th Cir. 2014). We may consider the

plaintiffs’ pleadings as “mere evidence” on the question of

jurisdiction, and may also consider evidence outside the

pleadings without converting the motion to dismiss into a motion

for summary judgment. Id.

The district court is authorized to resolve factual

disputes in evaluating its subject matter jurisdiction. United

States ex rel. Vuyyuru v. Jadhav, 555 F.3d 337, 348 (4th Cir.

2009); Williams v. United States, 50 F.3d 299, 304 (4th Cir.

1995); Adams v. Bain, 697 F.2d 1213, 1219 (4th Cir. 1982).

However, “when the jurisdictional facts and the facts central to

a tort claim are inextricably intertwined,” the district court

ordinarily should withhold a determination regarding subject

matter jurisdiction and proceed to the merits of the case.

Kerns v. United States, 585 F.3d 187, 193 (4th Cir. 2009).

A.

The political question doctrine derives from the principle

of separation of powers, and deprives courts of jurisdiction

over “controversies which revolve around policy choices and

value determinations constitutionally committed” to Congress or,

as alleged in this case, to the executive branch. Japan Whaling

Ass’n v. Am. Cetacean Soc’y, 478 U.S. 221, 230 (1986). This

doctrine is a “narrow exception” to the judiciary’s general

obligation to decide cases properly brought before the courts.

13
Zivotofsky v. Clinton, 132 S. Ct. 1421, 1427 (2012). Although

most military decisions are committed exclusively to the

executive branch, a claim is not shielded from judicial review

merely because it arose from action taken under orders of the

military. Burn Pit, 744 F.3d at 334; see also Japan Whaling,

478 U.S. at 229-30 (“[I]t is error to suppose that every case or

controversy which touches foreign relations lies beyond judicial

cognizance.”) (quoting Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 211 (1962))

(internal quotation marks omitted).

The Supreme Court established a six-factor test in Baker v.

Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (1962) (the Baker factors), to aid courts in

determining whether a case presents a political question. These

factors ask whether there is: “(1) a textually demonstrable

constitutional commitment of the issue to a coordinate political

department, (2) a lack of judicially discoverable and manageable

standards for resolving the issue, (3) the impossibility of

deciding the issue without an initial policy determination of a

kind clearly for nonjudicial discretion, (4) the impossibility

of a court’s undertaking independent resolution of the issue

without expressing lack of the respect due coordinate branches

of government, (5) an unusual need for unquestioning adherence

to a political decision already made, or (6) the potentiality of

embarrassment from multifarious pronouncements by various

departments on one question.” Burn Pit, 744 F.3d at 334 (citing

14
Baker, 369 U.S. at 217) (internal quotations and alterations

omitted).

In Taylor v. Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc., 658 F.3d

402 (4th Cir. 2011), we considered the proper application of the

Baker factors to cases involving the civil liability of a

government contractor in a negligence case. We distilled the

Baker factors into two questions for consideration in

determining whether a court has subject matter jurisdiction in a

suit against a government contractor. We first asked “whether

the government contractor was under the ‘plenary’ or ‘direct’

control of the military” (direct control). Al Shimari III, 758

F.3d at 533 (quoting Taylor, 658 F.3d at 411). Second, we asked

whether “national defense interests were ‘closely intertwined’

with military decisions governing the contractor’s conduct, such

that a decision on the merits of the claim ‘would require the

judiciary to question actual, sensitive judgments made by the

military.’” Id. at 533-34 (quoting Taylor, 658 F.3d at 411).

An affirmative response to either of the two Taylor factors,

namely, the fact of direct control or the need to question

sensitive military judgments, generally triggers application of

the political question doctrine. Id.

The plaintiff in Taylor, a Marine who suffered injuries

resulting from an electrical shock sustained on a military base

in Iraq, asserted a negligence claim against a government

15
contractor based on the contractor’s activation of a generator

while the plaintiff was performing work on a wiring box. 658

F.3d at 403-04. We concluded that because the contractor

intended to assert as a defense that the military was

contributorily negligent, the district court would be forced to

“question actual, sensitive judgments made by the military.”

Id. at 411-12 (internal quotation marks omitted). We therefore

held that the political question doctrine deprived the court of

jurisdiction to consider the plaintiff’s negligence claim. Id.

at 412.

Our holding in Taylor reflected our concern that when

national defense interests are at stake, courts must carefully

assess the extent to which these interests may be implicated in

any litigation of a plaintiff’s claims involving the conduct of

a military contractor. Taylor, 658 F.3d at 409-10. We give

this question particular attention because courts are ill-

equipped to evaluate discretionary operational decisions made

by, or at the direction of, the military on the battlefield.

See generally Carmichael v. Kellogg, Brown & Root Servs., Inc.,

572 F.3d 1271 (11th Cir. 2009).

B.

The present case requires us to examine the factors and

related considerations discussed in Taylor. However, because

Taylor was a negligence case and the present case involves

16
allegations of intentional acts, we frame our analysis in

accordance with that distinction.

i.

As stated above, the first Taylor factor asks whether the

acts occurred while the government contractor was under the

direct control of the military. Taylor, 658 F.3d at 411. In

Al Shimari III, we also described this factor in terms of “the

extent to which military personnel actually exercised control”

over the contractor’s acts. Al Shimari III, 758 F.3d at 535.

In the present case, after considering this first Taylor factor,

the district court credited the evidence that the military

maintained formal control over the interrogations, and concluded

that the case presented a political question depriving the court

of subject matter jurisdiction.

In the district court, the evidence regarding the

military’s control over the CACI interrogators proceeded on

parallel tracks, with evidence demonstrating formal military

control presented alongside evidence showing that the military

failed to exercise actual control over the interrogators. With

regard to formal control, the record shows that the military was

in charge of the official command structure at Abu Ghraib and

instituted procedures governing the interrogation process. For

example, in September and October 2003, military leadership

located in Baghdad issued two memoranda establishing the

17
particularized rules of engagement for interrogations (IROEs)

conducted at Abu Ghraib, which authorized the use of several,

specific interrogation techniques. 3 In addition, all

interrogators were required to submit interrogation plans to the

military chain of command for advance approval. These plans

specified the interrogation methods that the particular

interrogators intended to employ and included requests for

separate approval of more aggressive tactics, if necessary.

Other evidence in the record, however, indicated that the

military failed to exercise actual control over the work

conducted by the CACI interrogators. In one government report,

an investigator unequivocally concluded that military leaders at

Abu Ghraib “failed to supervise subordinates or provide direct

oversight” of the mission, and that the “lack of command

presence, particularly at night, was clear.” 4 Lt. Gen. Anthony

R. Jones, AR 15-6 Investigation of the Abu Ghraib Prison and

205th Military Intelligence Brigade 1137 (2004). The same

report emphasized that interrogation operations were “plagued by

3 We observe that the September 2003 IROE memorandum
authorized aggressive interrogation tactics to be used under
certain conditions, including the use of stress positions and
“sleep management.” The later, superseding memorandum removed
these tactics.

4 Generally, investigative government reports of this nature
are admissible as an exception to the rule against hearsay under
Federal Rule of Evidence 803(8)(A)(iii).

18
a lack of an organizational chain of command presence and by a

lack of proper actions to establish standards and training” by

senior leadership. Id. Additional evidence in the record also

indicates that CACI interrogators ordered low-level military

personnel to mistreat detainees. This evidence supported the

plaintiffs’ contention that the formal command authority held by

the military did not translate into actual control of day-to-day

interrogation operations.

The above evidence of a “command vacuum” raises the

question whether the military exercised actual control over any

interrogation-related activities during which the challenged

conduct occurred. Also, through operation of the Army Field

Manual 5 and IROEs, the military may have expressly prohibited the

5 The United States Department of the Army Field Manual 34-
52, Intelligence Interrogation (Sept. 28, 1992) (the Field
Manual or Manual), in effect at the time of the alleged events
in this case, states that interrogations must occur within the
“constraints” of the Uniform Code of Military Justice as well as
the Geneva Conventions. Id. preface at iv-v. The Manual
expressly prohibits “[p]hysical or mental torture and coercion,”
defining “torture” as “the infliction of intense pain to body or
mind to extract a confession or information, or for sadistic
pleasure.” Id. at 1-8. The Manual also lists examples of
prohibited practices, including some of the techniques
challenged in this case, such as electric shocks, food
deprivation, “[a]ny form of beating,” “[f]orcing an individual
to stand, sit, or kneel in abnormal positions for prolonged
periods of time,” mock executions, and “[a]bnormal sleep
deprivation.” Id. The Field Manual cautions that any “[s]uch
illegal acts are not authorized and will not be condoned” by the
military. Id.

19
use of certain interrogation methods, but failed to enforce

these prohibitions in practice.

Rather than addressing the issue of actual control, the

district court began and ended its analysis by drawing

conclusions based on the evidence of formal control. This

approach failed to address the full scope of review that the

district court needed to conduct on remand. We explained in Al

Shimari III that the record was inconclusive “regarding the

extent to which military personnel actually exercised control

over CACI employees in their performance of their interrogation

functions.” Al Shimari III, 758 F.3d at 535. We further

observed that we were “unable to determine the extent to which

the military controlled the conduct of the CACI interrogators

outside the context of required interrogations, which is

particularly concerning given the plaintiffs’ allegations that

‘[m]ost of the abuse’ occurred at night, and that the abuse was

intended to ‘soften up’ the detainees for later interrogations.”

Id. at 536.

We thus asked the district court to consider whether the

military actually controlled the CACI interrogators’ job

performance, including any activities that occurred outside the

formal interrogation process. The first Taylor factor is not

satisfied by merely examining the directives issued by the

military for conducting interrogation sessions, or by reviewing

20
any particular interrogation plans that the military command

approved in advance. Instead, the concept of direct control

encompasses not only the requirements that were set in place in

advance of the interrogations, but also what actually occurred

in practice during those interrogations and related activities.

In examining the issue of direct control, when a contractor

engages in a lawful action under the actual control of the

military, we will consider the contractor’s action to be a “de

facto military decision[]” shielded from judicial review under

the political question doctrine. Taylor, 658 F.3d at 410.

However, the military cannot lawfully exercise its authority by

directing a contractor to engage in unlawful activity. Thus,

when a contractor has engaged in unlawful conduct, irrespective

of the nature of control exercised by the military, the

contractor cannot claim protection under the political question

doctrine. The district court failed to draw this important

distinction. Accordingly, we conclude that a contractor’s acts

may be shielded from judicial review under the first prong of

Taylor only to the extent that those acts (1) were committed

under actual control of the military; and (2) were not unlawful.

ii.

We turn now to consider the district court’s treatment of

the second Taylor factor, which asks whether a decision on the

merits of the claim would require the court to “question actual,

21
sensitive judgments made by the military.” Al Shimari III, 758

F.3d at 533-34 (quoting Taylor, 658 F.3d at 411). The district

court concluded that the plaintiffs’ claims were non-justiciable

under this second Taylor factor. The court explained that it

was unequipped to evaluate whether the use of certain “extreme

interrogation measures in the theatre of war” was appropriate or

justified. In the court’s view, adjudicating the plaintiffs’

claims would impinge on the military’s authority to select

interrogation strategies and rules of engagement. Debates

existing within the executive branch at that time regarding the

propriety of certain aggressive interrogation tactics reinforced

the court’s conclusion.

We conclude that the above analysis that the district court

conducted was incomplete. In addressing the second Taylor

factor, the district court erred in failing to draw a

distinction between unlawful conduct and discretionary acts that

were not unlawful when committed.

The commission of unlawful acts is not based on “military

expertise and judgment,” and is not a function committed to a

coordinate branch of government. See Carmichael, 572 F.3d at

1282 (emphasis omitted). To the contrary, Congress has

established criminal penalties for commission of acts

constituting torture and war crimes. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340A,

2441. Therefore, to the extent that the plaintiffs’ claims rest

22
on allegations of unlawful conduct in violation of settled

international law or criminal law then applicable to the CACI

employees, those claims fall outside the protection of the

political question doctrine. On remand, the district court must

first segregate such justiciable claims in its analysis before

proceeding to determine whether any claims alleging conduct that

was not unlawful implicated sensitive military judgments under

the second prong of Taylor.

iii.

In reaching this conclusion, we emphasize the long-standing

principle that courts are competent to engage in the traditional

judicial exercise of determining whether particular conduct

complied with applicable law. See El-Shifa Pharm. Indus. Co. v.

United States, 607 F.3d 836, 842 (D.C. Cir. 2010) (en banc)

(majority opinion) (“[T]hat a case may involve the conduct of

the nation’s foreign affairs does not necessarily prevent a

court from determining whether the Executive has exceeded the

scope of prescribed statutory authority or failed to obey the

prohibition of a statute or treaty.”); cf. Gilligan v. Morgan,

413 U.S. 1, 11-12 (1973) (“[W]e neither hold nor imply that the

conduct of the National Guard is always beyond judicial review

or that there may not be accountability in a judicial forum for

violations of law for specific unlawful conduct by military

personnel.”) (emphasis added). Accordingly, when a military

23
contractor acts contrary to settled international law or

applicable criminal law, the separation of powers rationale

underlying the political question doctrine does not shield the

contractor’s actions from judicial review. See Baker, 369 U.S.

at 217.

For the same reasons, this principle generally renders

justiciable claims against a government contractor alleging a

statutory violation. See El-Shifa, 607 F.3d at 851 (Ginsburg,

J., concurring in the judgment). The adjudication of such a

claim requires a court only to engage in the traditional

judicial function of “say[ing] what the law is,” and of

determining how that law applies to the facts of a particular

case, rather than passing judgment on a discretionary policy

choice. Burn Pit, 744 F.3d at 334 (quoting Marbury v. Madison,

5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 177 (1803)).

The Supreme Court likewise has explained that the political

question doctrine does not strip courts of their authority to

construe treaties and agreements entered into by the executive

branch, despite the potential political implications of judicial

review. Japan Whaling, 478 U.S. at 230. Courts thus retain the

ability to apply traditional rules of statutory interpretation

to the facts presented in a particular case. Id. Conducting a

“textual, structural, and historical” examination of a statute

or treaty “is what courts do” and typically is not barred by the

24
political question doctrine. Zivotofsky, 132 S. Ct. at 1427,

1430; see also El-Shifa, 607 F.3d at 856 (Kavanaugh, J.,

concurring in the judgment) (“The Supreme Court has never

applied the political question doctrine in a case involving

alleged statutory violations.”) (emphasis in original). 6

iv.

Applying the Taylor factors in accordance with the above-

stated principles, we hold that any conduct of the CACI

employees that occurred under the actual control of the military

or involved sensitive military judgments, and was not unlawful

when committed, constituted a protected exercise of discretion

under the political question doctrine. Conversely, any acts of

the CACI employees that were unlawful when committed,

irrespective whether they occurred under actual control of the

military, are subject to judicial review. Thus, the plaintiffs’

claims are justiciable to the extent that the challenged conduct

violated settled international law or the criminal law to which

the CACI employees were subject at the time the conduct

6Given the nature of the claims alleged in this case, we
are not presented at this stage of the litigation with “policy
choices and value determinations” embedded within a claim
alleging a violation of customary international law. See El-
Shifa, 607 F.3d at 843-44 (majority opinion) (citation omitted)
(holding non-justiciable a claim under the law of nations
requiring the court to determine whether a U.S. military attack
was “mistaken and not justified”).

25
occurred. 7 Cf. Japan Whaling, 478 U.S. at 230; Hamdi v.

Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507, 536 (2004) (explaining that “a state of

war is not a blank check for the President” with respect to

individual rights) (opinion of O’Connor, J.).

We remain mindful, however, that this dichotomy between

lawful discretionary acts and unlawful activity will not always

be clear when applied to particular conduct. Although alleged

conduct that on its face is aggravated and criminal in nature,

such as sexual assault and beatings, clearly will present a

subject for judicial review unaffected by the political question

doctrine, other conduct may not be capable of such clear

categorization. In instances in which the lawfulness of such

conduct was not settled at the time the conduct occurred, and

the conduct occurred under the actual control of the military or

involved sensitive military judgments, that conduct will not be

subject to judicial review. Cf. Viet. Ass’n for Victims of

Agent Orange v. Dow Chem. Co., 517 F.3d 104, 123 (2d Cir. 2008)

(dismissing claims under the ATS because the plaintiffs did not

“ground[] their claims arising under international law in a norm

7
We decline CACI’s invitation to rely on out-of-circuit
precedent cited in its letter submitted to the Court after oral
argument. These citations are not the proper subject of a
submission pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure
28(j). And, in any event, these authorities only reinforce our
view that, when a plaintiff’s claim challenges a core foreign
policy decision made by the political branches of government,
the political question doctrine bars review.

26
that was universally accepted at the time of the events giving

rise to the injuries alleged”). The absence of clear norms of

international law or applicable criminal law regarding the

lawfulness of a particular mode of treatment will render that

“grey area” conduct non-justiciable under the political question

doctrine, as long as the conduct was committed under the actual

control of the military or implicated sensitive military

judgments.

Here, the plaintiffs alleged pursuant to the ATS that CACI

interrogators engaged in a wide spectrum of conduct amounting to

torture, war crimes, and/or cruel, inhuman, or degrading

treatment, as well as various torts under the common law. Among

other things, the plaintiffs alleged that they were subjected to

beatings, stress positions, forced nudity, sexual assault, and

death threats, in addition to the withholding of food, water,

and medical care, sensory deprivation, and exposure to extreme

temperatures. Counsel for CACI conceded at oral argument that

at least some of the most egregious conduct alleged, including

sexual assault and beatings, was clearly unlawful, even though

CACI maintains that the plaintiffs cannot show that CACI

interrogators perpetrated any of these abuses.

We decline to render in the first instance a comprehensive

determination of which acts alleged were unlawful when

committed, or whether the plaintiffs have stated claims to

27
relief that could survive a motion filed under Federal Rule of

Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Nevertheless, as noted above, some of

the alleged acts plainly were unlawful at the time they were

committed and will not require extensive consideration by the

district court. Accordingly, on remand, the district court will

be required to determine which of the alleged acts, or

constellations of alleged acts, violated settled international

law and criminal law governing CACI’s conduct and, therefore,

are subject to judicial review. 8 The district court also will be

required to identify any “grey area” conduct that was committed

under the actual control of the military or involved sensitive

military judgments and, thus, is protected under the political

question doctrine.

8 As with the ATS claims, to the extent that conduct
underlying the common law claims was unlawful, those claims also
will be justiciable. We observe, however, that certain
allegations underlying the common law claims may involve conduct
that, although tortious under the common law, did not constitute
a violation of applicable criminal or international law. A
nonconsensual touching that might constitute battery, or conduct
that might amount to intentional infliction of emotional
distress, under the common law nevertheless may have been an
interrogation tactic that the military lawfully could have
authorized. Accordingly, we express no view on the
justiciability of common law claims alleging conduct that was
not unlawful at the time. We leave this determination to the
district court in the first instance.
In the event that the district court determines that any of
the common law claims are justiciable, the court nevertheless
may elect to reinstate its prior order dismissing those claims
under Rule 12(b)(6), which order this Court has not yet
reviewed.

28
 This “discriminating analysis,” see Baker, 369 U.S. at 211,

will require the district court to examine the evidence

regarding the specific conduct to which the plaintiffs were

subjected and the source of any direction under which the acts

took place. If disputed facts are “inextricably intertwined”

with the facts underlying the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims,

the district court should resolve these disputed jurisdictional

facts along with the intertwined merits issues. See Kerns, 585

F.3d at 193.

C.

Distinct from its holding of non-justiciability under

Taylor, the district court separately concluded under the second

Baker factor that the case lacked manageable standards for

judicial resolution of the plaintiffs’ claims. The court

emphasized that its general lack of expertise in applying

international law, and the difficulty of determining the

constraints of such law, also rendered the case non-justiciable.

We disagree with the district court’s conclusion.

Unlike in negligence cases calling into question military

standards of conduct, the district court in the present case is

called upon to interpret statutory terms and established

international norms to resolve the issues presented by the ATS

claims. See Kadic v. Karadzic, 70 F.3d 232, 249 (2d Cir. 1995)

(“[U]niversally recognized norms of international law provide

29
judicially discoverable and manageable standards for

adjudicating suits brought under the Alien Tort Act.”). Compare

also Carmichael, 572 F.3d at 1287 (“[O]nly the military was in a

position to meaningfully balance [the] risks [of the mission] in

light of its broader strategies and objectives; and only the

military possessed the competence to make the many critical

tactical decisions concerning the safest and most efficacious

way to conduct the convoy.”), with Japan Whaling, 478 U.S. at

230 (noting courts’ competency to apply traditional rules of

statutory interpretation, even in cases presenting “political

overtones”).

With regard to the present case, the terms “torture” and

“war crimes” are defined at length in the United States Code and

in international agreements to which the United States

government has obligated itself. See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340-

2340A (implementing the United States’ obligations as a

signatory of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel,

Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment); 18 U.S.C. § 2441

(prescribing criminal penalties under the United States Code for

“war crimes,” including “grave breaches” of the Geneva

Conventions). Courts also have undertaken the challenge of

evaluating whether particular conduct amounts to torture, war

crimes, or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. See, e.g.,

United States v. Belfast, 611 F.3d 783, 828 (11th Cir. 2010)

30
(torture); Kadic, 70 F.3d at 243 (war crimes and torture);

Xuncax v. Gramajo, 886 F. Supp. 162, 187 (D. Mass. 1995)

(torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment). Likewise,

in his common law claims, Al Shimari has alleged familiar torts

based on long-standing common law principles.

Although the substantive law applicable to the present

claims may be unfamiliar and complicated in many respects, we

cannot conclude that we lack manageable standards for their

adjudication justifying invocation of the political question

doctrine. In reaching this conclusion, we agree with the

observation that courts may not “decline to resolve a

controversy within their traditional competence and proper

jurisdiction simply because the question is difficult, the

consequences weighty, or the potential real for conflict with

the policy preferences of the political branches.” Zivotofsky,

132 S. Ct. at 1432 (Sotomayor, J., concurring in part and

concurring in the judgment); cf. Hamdi, 542 U.S. at 536

(“Whatever power the United States Constitution envisions for

the Executive in its exchanges with other nations or with enemy

organizations in times of conflict, it most assuredly envisions

a role for all three branches when individual liberties are at

stake.”) (opinion of O’Connor, J.).

31
 IV.

We recognize that the legal issues presented in this case

are indisputably complex, but we nevertheless cannot abdicate

our judicial role in such cases. Nor will we risk weakening

prohibitions under United States and international law against

torture and war crimes by questioning the justiciability of a

case merely because the case involves the need to define such

terms. The political question doctrine does not shield from

judicial review intentional acts by a government contractor that

were unlawful at the time they were committed.

Accordingly, we vacate the district court’s judgment, and

remand this case for further proceedings consistent with the

principles and instructions stated in this opinion.

VACATED AND REMANDED

32
FLOYD, Circuit Judge, concurring:

I am pleased to join in Judge Keenan’s fine opinion in this

case. I write separately to articulate my understanding of one

aspect of our holding. I agree that the “dichotomy between

lawful discretionary acts and unlawful activity will not always

be clear when applied to particular conduct.” Ante at 26. In

discussing this concept with the term “grey area,” ante at 26-

28, I do not understand the opinion to suggest that courts

cannot adjudicate close questions of lawfulness regarding

military affairs. Courts can adjudicate such questions without

offending the political question doctrine.

“The nonjusticiability of a political question is primarily

a function of the separation of powers” under our constitutional

scheme. Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 210 (1962). That scheme

does not assign military decision making to the judiciary and,

as a consequence, questions of military policy are not for us to

resolve. But this does not mean that every case touching

military affairs is nonjusticiable. In separating the powers of

government, the Constitution assigns to the judiciary the power

to resolve “what the law is.” Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137,

177 (1803). Thus although the reasonableness of military

conduct may not be justiciable, the lawfulness of that conduct

assuredly is. Cf., e.g., Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. 723

(2008); Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006).

33
 The precise contours of “what the law is” may be uncertain

until a court evaluates the lawfulness of specific conduct. For

example, despite repeated judicial application of torture laws,

see ante at 30, the precise legal scope of the prohibition on

torture is not perfectly defined. There is, in other words,

conduct for which the judiciary has yet to determine the

lawfulness: loosely, a grey area.

But this greyness does not render close torture cases

nonjusticiable merely because the alleged torturer was part of

the executive branch. While executive officers can declare the

military reasonableness of conduct amounting to torture, it is

beyond the power of even the President to declare such conduct

lawful. The same is true for any other applicable legal

prohibition. The fact that the President--let alone a

significantly inferior executive officer--opines that certain

conduct is lawful does not determine the actual lawfulness of

that conduct. The determination of specific violations of law

is constitutionally committed to the courts, even if that law

touches military affairs. Cf., e.g., Gilligan v. Morgan, 413

U.S. 1, 11-12 (1973).

Of course the fact that a claim is justiciable under the

political question doctrine says very little about that claim’s

procedural or substantive merits. Among other things, a claim

may be inadequately alleged, barred by other jurisdictional

34
doctrines, or ultimately not proven. “In instances in which

the lawfulness of . . . conduct was not settled at the time the

conduct occurred,” ante at 26, a defendant may be able to avoid

liability through the doctrine of qualified immunity, the ATS

requirement that conduct violate customary international law,

the requirement of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12 that a

claim be stated for which relief may be granted, or other

applicable law. See, e.g., Viet. Ass’n for Victims of Agent

Orange v. Dow Chem. Co., 517 F.3d 104, 123 (2d Cir. 2008)

(adjudicating and dismissing claims brought pursuant to the ATS

because the plaintiffs did not allege conduct proscribed by a

sufficiently universal customary international law norm).

However, the judiciary is well equipped to adjudicate such

issues without impermissibly answering political questions.

35