A group of workers contracted by the Chinese government to work in the United States were unable to have a grand jury subpoena quashed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Sept. 8.

The panel of Circuit Judges John Walker Jr. and Debra Ann Livingston and U.S. District Judge Vincent Briccetti of the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation, held that the seven employees of a Chinese construction firm hired to do work on Chinese government properties in the United States did not qualify for immunity status in In re Grand Jury Subpoenas Returnable December 16, 2015,16â€266â€cv. The panel affirmed a lower court ruling of former U.S. District Judge John Gleeson of the Eastern District of New York.

The workers appealed Gleeson's 2016 ruling, arguing that, despite not registering with the U.S. State Department, the workers were protected under diplomatic treaties, as well as by simply registering with the State Department under work visas.