A U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday chewed over whether a former congressman was rightly tried—and convicted—in Los Angeles for lying to the FBI, as part of an appeal that raises a venue question that has divided federal appellate courts.

The government’s case against ex-U.S. Rep. Jeffrey Fortenberry, R-Nebraska, centered around false statements he made over the phone while in Nebraska and the District of Columbia about illegal campaign contributions he received from a billionaire donor in 2015. Fortenberry was prosecuted in California, where a public-corruption investigation into the donor had been launched.