UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _____________

No. 21-2080 _____________

NADER TURKI ALDOSSARI, on behalf of as parent and natural guardian of Rakan Nader Aldossari, Appellant

v. JOSEPH C. RIPP; MOHAMMED BIN NAYEF AL SAUD, former Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia; THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA; SAUDI EST. FOR DEVELOPMENT OF RIYADH; SAUDI ARAMCO; EXPORT REFINERY WESTERN HEMISPHERE, LTD; TRANSCONTINENTAL OIL AND FINANCIAL GROUP OF AMERICA, INC.; MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN BIN ABDULAZIZ AL SAUD, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia __________

On Appeal from the United States District Court For the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (D.C. No. 2-20-cv-03187) District Judge: Honorable Gene E.K. Pratter _______________ Argued April 13, 2022 Before: AMBRO, JORDAN, and SCIRICA, Circuit Judges

(Filed: September 13, 2022) _______________ James T. Tallman [ARGUED] Elliott & Davis 6425 Living Place – Suite 200 Pittsburgh, PA 15206 Counsel for Appellant Katherine C. Cooper Michael K. Kellogg Gregory G. Rapawy Andrew C. Shen [ARGUED] Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick 1615 M Street, N.W. – Suite 400 Washington, DC 20036 Counsel for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Lawrence F. Stengel Saxton & Strump 280 Granite Run Drive – Suite 300 Lancaster, PA 17601 Counsel for Mohammed Bin Nayef Al Saud

2 Nicolle Kownacki Carolyn B. Lamm [ARGUED] Claire Marsden Hansel T. Pham White & Case 701 13th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20005 Counsel for Saudi Aramco _______________

OPINION OF THE COURT _______________ JORDAN, Circuit Judge.

Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. Constitutional, prudential, and statutory constraints on our authority prevent us from hearing some cases that are brought to us. For example, disputes under state law between citizens of the same state are typically beyond our adjudicatory power. 28 U.S.C. § 1332. So, too, are actions, like this one, brought against foreign defendants over a transaction executed and performed overseas. Those suits can only proceed in federal court if a sufficient connection – some jurisdictional “hook” – exists between the parties and their dispute on one hand and the United States on the other. This case has no hook.

Nader Turki Aldossari brought suit to recover a debt allegedly owed to his father. In the 1990s, his father’s company, Trans Gulf, entered into an agreement in Saudi Arabia with three other businesses. The companies agreed to set up and operate an oil refinery in Saint Lucia, an island nation in the Caribbean. Crude oil for the refinery was to be

3 sourced from the Saudi government or its national oil company, the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (known colloquially as “Saudi Aramco”). The project went forward, but, it is alleged, the owners of the three contract counterparties – one of whom later became the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia – conspired to cut Aldossari’s father out of the deal by refusing to pay Trans Gulf its promised share of the proceeds. Two decades later, when Aldossari sought recompense for his father’s work on the project, the soon-to-be Crown Prince promised to pay but never did. That failure is allegedly a consequence of the Crown Prince only having two years in office before being ousted by his cousin, the current Crown Prince. Aldossari later assigned to his minor son, a U.S. citizen, whatever rights he had to whatever his father was owed. Then, acting on behalf of his son, Aldossari brought suit in the District Court,