On October 21, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in Al Shimari v. CACI that the former inmates of Abu Ghraib may continue their legal case against the civilian military contractors that they allege tortured them. According to coverage of the decision, “[t]he case had previously been dismissed under the political question doctrine, but the court held the doctrine does not prevent the judiciary from deciding the case.” Agents of the defendant, CACI Premier technology, allegedly subjected the plaintiffs to various forms of torture during their time in the Abu Ghraib facility. CACI denies any wrongdoing. The court expressed a desire to avoid “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.” It continued by adding, “[t]he political question doctrine does not shield from judicial review intentional acts by a government contractor that were unlawful at the time they were committed.”