New: Another GOP election challenge loss — 11th Circuit rejected L. Lin Wood's effort to stop Georgia from certifying. The 3-0 opinion, written by Judge Bill Pryor, agreed with the district judge that Wood lacked standing, and concluded it was moot https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/7334748/12-5-20-11th-Circuit-Opinion-Wood-v-Raffensperger.pdf
Pryor: "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."
"Wood’s arguments reflect a basic misunderstanding of what mootness is. He argues that the certification does not moot anything “because this litigation is ongoing” and he remains injured. But mootness concerns the availability of relief, not the existence of a lawsuit..."
Let's look at this panel: Written by Judge Bill Pryor, a very prominent conservative judge. Joined by Judge Lagoa, who you may remember as being in serious contention for the last SCOTUS vacancy under Trump, and Judge Jill Pryor, an Obama nominee who GA's sens had tried to block
In a politically-charged case like this, the background of judges is relevant context — the fact that all three of these judges are on this unanimous decision speaks to the line in the sand that judges of all ideological stripes are drawing on these post-election legal challenges
This is the latest opinion that dings post-election GOP challengers for failing to clear the most basic procedural hurdles — on standing, Pryor notes Wood undermined one of his own points, and forfeited another argument raised below by not including it in his brief
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