Wood Plans Supreme Court Petition After Court Rejects Georgia Appeal

Lin Wood (C) at U.S. District Court, Central District of California in Los Angeles, on Dec. 3, 2019. Apu Gomes/Getty Images

Attorney Lin Wood says he plans to file a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, after a federal court denied his appeal in a case seeking to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

“The stakes are high as the case deals with a disputed Presidential election,” Wood said Dec. 6 in an email to The Epoch Times. “I intend to timely file a petition with the United States Supreme Court.”

A panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Dec. 5 upheld a Nov. 19 ruling by District Judge Steven Grimberg, a Trump appointee, who said that Wood lacked legal standing as an individual voter to challenge Georgia’s election procedures.

“We agree with the district court that Wood lacks standing to sue because he fails to allege a particularized injury. And because Georgia has already certified its election results and its slate of presidential electors, Wood’s requests for emergency relief are moot to the extent they concern the 2020 election,” the panel wrote in a 20-page opinion.

“The Constitution makes clear that federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction, U.S. Const. art. III; we may not entertain post-election contests about garden-variety issues of vote counting and misconduct that may properly be filed in state courts.”

The panel consisted of Trump appointee Barbara Lagoa, Obama appointee Jill Pryor, and George W. Bush appointee William Pryor.

Wood said he was disappointed with the panel’s ruling, “as my case presents an opportunity for the judicial system to make clear that the Georgia general election was unlawful as a result of substantive changes in absentee ballot procedures by the Secretary of State without approval by the Georgia legislature.

“My vote was diluted by the unlawful voting process and will again be diluted in the runoff election, which is being conducted under the same unlawful rules. My case presents serious equal protection issues which need to be addressed by the judicial system,” he added, before saying he would file a petition with the nation’s highest court.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger holds a press conference on the status of ballot counting in Atlanta, on Nov. 6, 2020. Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

A spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State Brian Raffensperger, who was named in the suit, didn’t immediately reply to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

Wood, known for representing Richard Jewell in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing case, and Nicholas Sandmann over news outlets’ coverage of the Kentucky teenager’s 2019 encounter with a Native American activist at the Lincoln Memorial, filed the suit last month arguing that the change to election rules by state officials violated the U.S. Constitution.

State officials were unauthorized to change the manner of processing absentee ballots in a way that was contrary with the state election code, and hence, the counting of absentee ballots for the general election in the state is, therefore “improper and must not be permitted,“ Wood alleged. “To allow otherwise would erode the sacred and basic rights of Georgia citizens under the United States Constitution to participate in and rely upon a free and fair election.”

Grimberg dismissed the suit about a week later, arguing that Wood lacked standing and couldn’t show a likelihood of success on the merits. Wood questioned the ruling, saying the judge “may have overreached to dismiss my claim that [the] election was unlawful” due to the consent agreement between Raffensperger and Democrats that altered election rules.

Wood appealed soon after, leading to the Dec. 5 decision.

Janita Kan contributed to this report.