While NatZero covered the appeals court Georgia decision slapping down Sidney Powell for appealing a temporary restraining order that was issued by the district court–also a story that we covered here at NatZero–I find a jab from the appeals court very funny and very telling about Courts’ frustration with these frivolous lawsuits filed by Trump’s lawyers and surrogates.

Just a reminder of the case:  Powell appealed a TRO issued by a district court judge who had ordered three Georgia counties to preserve files from voting machines.  The judge said he was limited to those three counties because Powell had specified those three counties in her lawsuit, but he would schedule a hearing for today, December 4th, to hear Powell’s arguments to expand the TRO to other counties.

This was not good enough for Powell, who instead of waiting for the hearing, filed an appeal with the Appeals Court.  Judge Timothy Batten, the district court judge, advised Powell that TROs are not generally appealable, and that if the Appeals Court should refer the case back to him, it would have to be rescheduled for two weeks later.

“Any delay in conducting the hearing on the claims in Plaintiffs’ complaint would be attributable to the Plaintiffs–not this Court–since the Plaintiffs are the ones who filed the notice of appeal,” Batten wrote in his order to cancel Friday’s hearing because of Powell’s appeal notice.

Well, today, the Appeals Court rejected Powell’s motion and predictably returned it to Batten’s District Court, but in their decision, they couldn’t help but taking a sharp jab at Powell and her legal acumen [My stress added]:

The district court has not issued one of those appealable orders. In this case, the district court issued an emergency temporary restraining order at the plaintiffs’ request, worked at a breakneck pace to provide them an opportunity for broader relief, and was ready to enter an appealable order on the merits of their claims immediately after its expedited hearing on December 4, 2020. But the plaintiffs would not take the district court’s “yes” for an answer. They appealed instead. And, because they appealed, the evidentiary hearing has been stayed and the case considerably delayed. For our part, the law requires that we dismiss the appeal and return the case to the district court for further proceedings.

The Court not only says, “Hey, make sure you’re filing in the right Court,” but they’re also saying, “You screwed up.  You should listen to what the judge says.  Now you’ve screwed yourself.”

Because Powell didn’t listen, the earliest date for the case to be heard would be December 18th.  State electors for the Electoral College must submit their votes by December 14th, making Powell’s potential upcoming hearing moot.