U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras of the District of Columbia summarily dismissed a lawsuit Thursday by House republicans seeking to the adoption of proxy voting rules, chiding the plaintiffs for trying to sue Democratic leaders personally for pursuing the option, Law.com reports.

“The court can conceive of few other actions, besides actually debating, speaking, or voting, that could more accurately be described as ‘legislative’ than the regulation of how votes may be cast,” Contreras wrote.

GOP House members argued, somewhat ridiculously, that by providing for proxy voting, the legislature is diluting the power of the votes of members who are present in the House chamber.

“[T]he House unquestionably has the authority, under the Constitution, to ‘determine the rules of its proceedings,’” Contreras wrote in his ruling.  He also dismissed the claims of republicans that proxy voting diluted the power of the vote, saying “as a practical reality, when fewer votes are counted each vote carries more weight. But that does not mean members’ voting power should necessarily be defined dynamically.”

Douglas Letter, the House General Counsel defending the rule, said that the lawsuit was baseless from the start because the “speech and debate” clause of the Constitution shielded members from lawsuits and gave the majority the power to set up the rules by which the legislature is governed.