Douglas Letter said that when he was arguing a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit while at the Justice Department, he and other government attorneys had prepared arguments on a lack of standing but pocketed them over concerns the claims weren’t strong enough.

The argument likely wouldn’t have been raised at all, if it weren’t for one member of the court: then-Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who asked Letter’s opposing counsel how they had standing in the case. The attorney’s mouth dropped, Letter recalled. “Even the government isn’t arguing there’s no standing here!” the lawyer said.