A Trump-era U.S. Justice Department amicus brief vexed a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which used a footnote in their opinion to point out how “unhelpful” the filing was.

In the underlying discrimination case, Judges James Loken, Bobby Shepherd and David Stras found that St. Louis police Sgt. Jatonya Clayborn Muldrow failed to show she was transferred out of the department’s Intelligence Division and into the patrol area unit as a result of sex bias. The judges said in a footnote that the Justice Department supported a position that “clearly contravened” the circuit’s precedent and put forth irrelevant arguments.