For the second year, half of Supreme Court cases involve the federal government as respondents or petitioners, a novel trend for the justices.

The lawsuit is proceeding in state and federal court at the same time, a rare occurrence that mirrors the rare nature of the attempt to throw out ballots months after the election ended.

In a pivotal hearing in the North Carolina Supreme Court elections case, the lawyer representing the state Board of Elections faced a barrage of questions from a federal court of appeals judge about the appropriateness of calling back to federal court a case that the state Supreme Court had acted on.

Three judges on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, heard, among others, from attorneys for Democratic Justice Allison Riggs, trailing Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin and the State Board of Elections,

During oral arguments in federal court Monday, lawyers for North Carolina's two candidates in a still-undecided election for state Supreme Court sparred with a trio of federal judges, who peppered them with intense questioning — over the issue of who should have the final say in a lawsuit that could decide the fate of the election.