The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts lost its bid to challenge a federal appellate court decision rejecting a series of rules that limited political activity court workers could engage in outside of the office.

A majority of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s active judges—Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judges Patricia Millett, Robert Wilkins, Gregory Katsas, Neomi Rao, Justin Walker, J. Michelle Childs and Florence Pan—rejected the agency’s petition to have the case heard again en banc in a three-page order issued Friday. Judge Cornelia Pillard did not participate in the vote.