--- title: Dems Cite Monty Python in Legal Filing to Mock Trump Challenge description: The Trump campaign is trying to get a federal appeals court to revive a third version of its complaint after voluntarily withdrawing the first one. canonical: https://time.com/5915467/trump-election-lawsuit-monty-python/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-11-25T04:13:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T09:28:30.392Z article:section: Politics og:title: Democrats Cite Monty Python’s ‘Spanish Inquisition’ in Legal Filing to Mock Trump Election Challenge og:description: The Trump campaign is trying to get a federal appeals court to revive a third version of its complaint after voluntarily withdrawing the first one. og:url: https://time.com/5915467/trump-election-lawsuit-monty-python/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40a951660d28e88a/698a14a909208f4f49417685/pennsylvania-vote.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: A protester holding a flag chants slogans on a megaphone og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Democrats Cite Monty Python’s ‘Spanish Inquisition’ in Legal Filing to Mock Trump Election Challenge twitter:description: The Trump campaign is trying to get a federal appeals court to revive a third version of its complaint after voluntarily withdrawing the first one. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40a951660d28e88a/698a14a909208f4f49417685/pennsylvania-vote.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Democrats Cite Monty Python’s ‘Spanish Inquisition’ in Legal Filing to Mock Trump Election Challenge > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Erik Larson / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Erik Larson / Bloomberg Contributor Nov 25, 2020 4:13 AM UTC  A protester holding a flag chants slogans on a megaphone during the demonstration. A group of approximately 25 people in support of Donald Trump marched around Public Square shouting "Stop the Steal" and demanding a recount of votes in Pennsylvania. A protester holding a flag chants slogans on a megaphone during the demonstration. A group of approximately 25 people in support of Donald Trump marched around Public Square shouting "Stop the Steal" and demanding a recount of votes in Pennsylvania. Aimee Dilger–SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images by [Erik Larson / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Erik Larson / Bloomberg Contributor Nov 25, 2020 4:13 AM UTC A Democratic group cited Monty Python’s 1970 “Spanish Inquisition” [sketch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAn7baRbhx4) in a court filing mocking President Donald Trump for trying to take “three last chances” to file a lawsuit to overturn Pennsylvania’s election results. The Trump campaign is trying to get a federal appeals court to revive a third version of its complaint after voluntarily withdrawing the first one and then seeing U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann issue a scathing dismissal of the second one. Brann refused to let the campaign file yet another complaint, and it is asking the appeals court to overturn that decision. They shouldn’t get a third shot, Democrats Abroad, a group representing overseas voters, said in a filing on Tuesday. “The attorneys for the President of the United States should not need ‘three last chances’ to coherently state a cause of action,” the group said. “Yet, apparently, that third, last chance is all they seek from this Court.” The sketch, which begins with the catchphrase “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!” has the British comics playing inquisitors who repeatedly trip over their words as they attempt to tell an elderly woman that she has “three last chances” to admit her guilt before being tortured by silly and innocuous household items. The filing also noted the irony of the campaign seeking permission to file a third complaint to fix what it says were a number of errors when the suit itself demands that about 70,000 mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania be invalidated based on minor errors made by otherwise qualified voters. Moreover, the group said, the campaign has failed to present “one iota of proof” to back voter-fraud conspiracy theories Trump has been tweeting “for months.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5915467/trump-election-lawsuit-monty-python/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5915467/trump-election-lawsuit-monty-python/"},"headline":"Democrats Cite Monty Python’s ‘Spanish Inquisition’ in Legal Filing to Mock Trump Election Challenge","datePublished":"2020-11-25T04:13:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T09:28:30.392Z","description":"“The attorneys for the President of the United States should not need ‘three last chances’ to coherently state a cause of action,” the Democratic group said","url":"https://time.com/5915467/trump-election-lawsuit-monty-python/","keywords":["2020 Election","wire","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40a951660d28e88a/698a14a909208f4f49417685/pennsylvania-vote.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Erik Larson / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt40a951660d28e88a/698a14a909208f4f49417685/pennsylvania-vote.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A protester holding a flag chants slogans on a megaphone","caption":"A protester holding a flag chants slogans on a megaphone","creditText":"Aimee Dilger–SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2020-election/","name":"2020 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5915467/trump-election-lawsuit-monty-python/","name":"Democrats Cite Monty Python’s ‘Spanish Inquisition’ in Legal Filing to Mock Trump Election Challenge"}}]}] ```