The U.S. Justice Department has asked an appeals court to uphold the obstruction of an official proceeding charge against three men accused of taking part in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, warning that the lower court’s decision to dismiss the charge leads to “absurd results.”

DOJ prosecutors urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reverse a series of rulings by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who found that defendants must physically interfere with documents, records or objects to be charged with obstruction of an official proceeding.