Akhmetshin v. Browder, No. 19-7129 (D.C. Cir. 2021)

Appellant, a resident of the District of Columbia and a dual citizen of the United States and the Russian Federation, filed a defamation action in district court against appellee, a nonresident alien and citizen of the United Kingdom. Because appellee made his allegedly defamatory statements outside of the District of Columbia, appellant sought to establish personal jurisdiction over appellee under the District's long-arm jurisdiction statute, D.C. CODE 13-423(a)(4). The district court granted appellee's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. The DC Circuit vacated and remanded, holding that appellee's conduct within the District should have been included in the jurisdictional calculus.

Appellee timely petitioned for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc. After considering the parties' arguments, the court has now decided to certify questions to the D.C. Court of Appeals regarding the circumstances in which the government contacts exception applies and whether nonresident aliens who are citizens only of foreign countries may invoke the government contacts exception. 1. May nonresident aliens who are citizens only of foreign countries invoke the government contacts exception? 2. If the first question is answered in the affirmative, must those nonresident aliens possess cognizable rights pursuant to the First Amendment generally, or any specific clause thereunder, in order to invoke the exception? 3. Does the government contacts exception extend to efforts to influence federal policy other than direct contacts with agents, members, or instrumentalities of the federal government? 4. If the third question in answered in the affirmative, what standard governs in determining whether activities not involving direct contacts with the federal government are covered under the exception?