Judge Rejects Suit to Block Georgia Runoff as ‘Too Speculative’

Attorneys L. Lin Wood (C) and Mark Stephen (L) speak to the media about their client, British rescue diver Vernon Unsworth (rear), as they arrive at U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Calif. on Dec. 3, 2019. Apu Gomes/Getty Images

A lawsuit by attorney Lin Wood to block next week’s Georgia Senate runoff election has been dismissed by a federal judge.

Earlier this month, Wood filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, saying the secretary of state’s office violated the law in how it handled absentee and mail-in ballots during the Nov. 3 election. Wood argued that the state’s process to verify signatures on ballots was flawed, among other allegations.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten Sr. denied Wood’s request for injunctive relief on Dec. 28, saying that the allegations in the lawsuit are speculative, while asserting that Wood lacked standing.

“However, even taking his statements as true, Wood’s allegations show only the ‘possibility of future injury’ based on a series of events—which falls short of the requirement to establish a concrete injury,” the judge wrote in his order (pdf), adding that Wood’s claims “plainly contemplate only the possibility of future harm and do not conclusively demonstrate a future injury.”

“Even if Wood’s alleged fraudulent events were to ultimately occur, he has not shown more than a possible future injury. This is insufficient to confer standing,” wrote Batten, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush. “Wood’s claims are both too generalized and too speculative to demonstrate an injury in fact.

“Accordingly, he lacks standing to pursue his equal protection claim.”

Wood had argued in the lawsuit that he has standing in the case because he is the “holder of the fundamental right to vote” in the United States, and he noted that voters have “a legally cognizable interest in preventing ‘dilution’ of their vote through improper means.”

Wood, in reference to the lawsuit, wrote on Twitter that he filed more evidence in the case, saying, “Judge Timothy Batten cannot deny [the] existence of evidence.” He later filed an appeal.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, in a statement on Dec. 28, said that his office “time and time again” has been able to fend off lawsuits related to the Nov. 3 election.

“We have successfully fought off lawsuits from the right and the left looking to undermine rule of law in Georgia,” Raffensberger wrote. “The numerous baseless and frivolous lawsuits ... are just the latest in a long history of lawsuits to nowhere in Georgia.”

Batten also dismissed a lawsuit filed by attorney Sidney Powell earlier in December.

The Jan. 5, 2021, runoff election pits Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) against Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock—with control of the Senate possibly at stake.