A federal appeals court unanimously shut down a conservative lawyer's attempt to block Biden's presidential win in Georgia
John L. Dorman
A US federal appeals court dismissed a bid by conservative lawyer Lin Wood to block President-elect Joe Biden's win in Georgia, the latest in a string of Trump-aligned legal setbacks to overturn the November election results.
The Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled in a 3-0 decision to deny Wood's request to block the certification of Georgia's results, which they said was moot, since the statewide results were certified on November 20. The decision affirmed a ruling by the lower US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia that tossed the lawsuit.
The court stated that Wood "had to prove that his suit presents a justifiable controversy," but that "he failed to satisfy this burden."
"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 court added.
Biden won conservative-leaning Georgia by a little over 12,000 votes, or a 0.26% margin, on his way to securing the state's 16 electoral votes. President Donald Trump, who continues to be upset about his loss in the Peach State, has insisted that he failed to win the state due to mass voter fraud, a debunked claim that he has failed to substantiate.
Wood, a staunch ally of Trump, along with lawyer Sidney Powell, have come under intense scrutiny in recent days for spreading debunked allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities, providing no verifiable proof to back up their assertions. While Powell was initially associated with the Trump campaign's legal efforts, the campaign recently purged her from its team, saying that she "is practicing law on her own."
Over the past month, the Trump campaign has suffered dozens of losses in court, with lawsuits tossed in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Many of the rulings have indicated that there was no evidence of any election-related wrongdoing.
Georgia Republicans have recently voiced concern that the Trump campaign's legal efforts and the attacks on Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger might depress the conservative base ahead of the January 2021 runoff elections featuring GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.
Both candidates are facing stiff challenges from Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively — if Democrats can clinch both seats, then they will create a 50-50 split in the Senate and provide the party with a working majority with the tie-breaking vote of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.