Rep. Mo Brooks has announced that he will challenge the 2020 presidential election results in Congress with the support of President Trump and other Republican representatives. Using a maneuver that has been attempted unsuccessfully in almost every election in recent history, Brooks is attempting to reverse President-elect Biden’s win.

As per a law passed in the 1880s, Congress can challenge the election results of a certain state if the election is disputed. Although it’s unlikely that any state’s results will be disputed, the law is written in a complicated way that could allow lawmakers to exploit it despite the result not being disputed. If Brooks and the Republicans carry out their intention, the process would take place in the weeks leading up to the presidential inauguration.

In January, Congress meets to certify the state’s election results. During this time, a Representative and a Senator can come forward and challenge a certain state’s electors. The lawmakers do not have to provide reasoning for the objection. Currently, there is no Republican Senator willing to do this.

The House and Senate must then separate to debate this challenge and then vote on whether to accept the state’s electors or not. If the challenge ever reaches this stage, the House will almost certainly vote against the challenge, but the Senate is a different story. So far, no Republican Senators have expressed support to vote to challenge the results, but opinions may change as the process continues.

If the Senate votes to challenge the state’s results, Congress will still be obliged to certify them. Regardless, there is little legal basis for this challenge, considering every state’s results meet the legal requirement for certification. Even if this challenge were to go further, there are other clauses in the law that remain in President-elect Biden’s favor, making this challenge unlikely to do anything but delay the inevitable outcome of the election.