Things have not been looking good for Kyle Rittenhouse’s lawyer Lin Wood in his efforts to overturn the state of Georgia’s now-certified vote cementing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, which turned the Peach State blue for the first time in decades.
First, Wood faced widespread mockery for submitting an un-notarized affidavit that confused the states of Michigan and Minnesota. Then, a federal judge appointed by President Donald Trump scathingly rejected Wood’s baseless voter fraud claims and denied a request for a temporary restraining order. Now, the appellate court that the attorney hoped would breathe life into his moribund claims hit him with a Law 101 hurdle: jurisdiction.
On the eve of Thanksgiving, the heavily conservative 11th Circuit Court of Appeals—stacked with no fewer than six Trump appointees—asked Wood to address no fewer than eight precedents about whether those judges are even capable of giving him what he wants: a request to invalidate millions of Georgians’ votes in a style that one state attorney likened to the Jim Crow era.
Those precedents are divided into two categories, those calling into question whether a federal judge’s denial of a “Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order” is immediately appealable and four others that would suggest that Wood’s case is moot now that the case has been certified.
One such case—Christian Coal. of Fla., Inc. v. United States, decided by the 11th Circuit nine years ago—notes that the court can only hear “cases” and “controversies.”
“A case is moot when it no longer presents a live controversy as to which a court can give meaningful relief, and this Court lacks jurisdiction to hear cases that are moot,” the 11th Circuit reminded Wood, whose attorney did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Formerly the lawyer for JonBenét Ramsey’s family and Covington Catholic teen Nicholas Sandmann, Wood’s public Twitter account suggests that he is an adherent of the fevered QAnon conspiracy theory, which holds that there is an elite cabal of Democratic Satanists who engage in ritualistic child rape. His Twitter account shows the hashtag #WWG1WGA, short for the QAnon slogan: “Where we go one, we go all.”
Like most of the Lost Cause lawsuits by Trump and his loyalists, Wood’s litigation has gone nowhere fast. He also represents fellow QAnon believer-turned-Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Wood said on Twitter that he has been working closely with Sidney Powell, a lawyer for Michael Flynn. The Trump campaign distanced itself from Powell earlier this week.
Wood must reply to the court’s query by Tuesday, Dec. 1.
Read the 11th Circuit’s queries below:
[Image via Apu Gomes/Getty Images]
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