A federal judge weighing where a fight over President Donald Trump’s New York state tax returns will unfold got bogged down in legal hypotheticals Wednesday, with lawyers saying some of the make-believe issues brought up in court aren’t necessarily relevant or are unlikely to play out.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols of the District of Columbia, a recent appointee who is grappling with his first major case in the Trump tax proceedings, didn’t signal exactly how he will rule on the jurisdiction fight. But the judge made it clear that he isn’t taking anything for chance, repeatedly laying out hypotheticals—including one that he acknowledged might not impact his ruling.