A federal appeals panel exchanged arguments Monday with lawyers over a still-unresolved November election for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat, immersed in jurisdictional questions over which courts should determine whether roughly 66,

Monday’s arguments will center on whether the case should be decided by state or federal courts — a decision which could be crucial in whether the results of the race are ultimately overturned.

In this moment of crisis, the courts have become the final guardrail against the forces of authoritarianism that seek to undermine the will of the voters.

The election battle between a sitting North Carolina Supreme Court justice and her Republican challenger ran into a panel of federal judges Monday concerned that their ruling could welcome a new wave of election litigation.

In a pivotal hearing in the North Carolina Supreme Court elections case, the lawyer representing the state Board of Elections faced a barrage of questions from a federal court of appeals judge about the appropriateness of calling back to federal court a case that the state Supreme Court had acted on.

The lawsuit is proceeding in state and federal court at the same time, a rare occurrence that mirrors the rare nature of the attempt to throw out ballots months after the election ended.