Supreme Court Sides With Convicted Saudi Spy in Venue Fight (1)

Federal prosecutors chose the wrong venue to charge a former Twitter employee accused of spying for Saudi Arabia, the US Supreme Court said in a unanimous decision.

In an opinion released Thursday, the court said the Justice Department was required to charge Ahmad Abouammo with falsifying an invoice in the location where the alleged obstruction occurred—his home in Seattle—rather than in California, where investigators were based.

“Whatever obstructive effects Abouammo’s false invoice may have had in northern California, they were not elements of his crime and cannot figure in determining where his crime was committed,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote for ...