Following Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election, one of his lawyers, Kenneth Chesebro, sent an email to his colleagues claiming that although litigation challenging Joe Biden’s victory in Wisconsin would most likely fall flat, it was useful politically to push a reversal of the election results. “Just getting this on file means that on Jan. 6, the court will either have ruled on the merits or, vastly more likely, will have appeared to dodge again,” Chesebro wrote in emails obtained by The New York Times. Furthermore, Supreme Court inaction, he said, would give Americans “the impression that the courts lacked the courage to fairly and timely consider these complaints, and justifying a political argument on Jan. 6 that none of the electoral votes from the states with regard to which the judicial process has failed should be counted.” He admitted the litigation would have “only 1 percent” chance of succeeding. According to the Times, these messages will come up during Chesebro’s Oct. 23 trial for allegations that he participated in a conspiracy to create fake electors supporting Trump in multiple states that Biden had rightfully won. Chesebro’s team has sought to have his case dismissed, maintaining that he was only “researching and finding precedents in order to form a legal opinion.” Scott Grubman, one of Chesebro’s attorneys, said that the litigation was “maybe a long shot, but far from criminal.” But the outlet reported that the emails contradict the First Amendment argument that Chesebro was simply pondering possible legal tactics.