A software engineer, awarded a $5 million judgment against Mike Lindell for successfully debunking claims of foreign interference in the 2020 election, had this decision overturned by a federal appeals court. Robert Zeidman, the engineer, now plans to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On Monday, Zeidman announced his intention to seek a reversal of this summer’s decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. A three-judge panel from this court had nullified his multi-million dollar victory against Lindell. Zeidman argues that his case highlights the hierarchical nature of the U.S. legal system, where wealth often dictates success.

The case originated from false claims of the 2020 election being rigged against Donald Trump, a narrative promoted by Lindell who organized the “Prove Mike Wrong” challenge during a 2021 symposium in South Dakota. Lindell provided data allegedly showing China’s interference to favor Joe Biden.

Zeidman, a Trump supporter, accepted the challenge and appeared successful. Although Lindell did not acknowledge Zeidman’s win, a “binding” arbitration panel and a federal district court supported the engineer. However, an appellate court sided with Lindell in July.

The court’s panel stated that the arbitration and district court considered advertisements rather than the actual challenge rules.

When presenting the challenge, Lindell promised “cyber data and packet captures from the 2020 November election,” aiming to disprove the data’s validity regarding the election.

But the challenge rules were much less specific, stating in part: “participants will participate in a challenge to prove that the data Lindell provides, and represents reflects information from the November 2020 election, unequivocally does NOT reflect information related to the November 2020 election.”

Essentially, while Zeidman showed that Lindell’s data provided no support for his claims of election hacking, he failed to prove that the data was not “related” to the election in any way.

In an op-ed penned for Slate, Zeidman claimed that he would be appealing to decision to the Supreme Court — not for the money, but because he believes “this case is about our country and its principles.”

His twofold argument first asserts that when “a fanatic like Mike Lindell” spreads lies about the U.S. voting system, it wastes resources and distracts from “the real voting issues.” Second, Zeidman claims that the decision runs contrary to the purpose of binding arbitration:

The U.S. arbitration system is intended to allow a person of modest means to get quicker decisions at lower costs than having to deal with the long, expensive, labyrinthian legal system. I know this from experience because I’ve been waiting four years, at great expense, to get a final decision in this case, and now the wait gets even longer. We can’t let wealthy plutocrats twist the legal system in this way. If this decision stands, it will be a devastating blow to arbitration in America because it means any “binding arbitration decision” can be brought to court and litigated at great length and with potential success. Arbitration outcomes will become a war of attrition, with the wealthier party having the resources to wait out a possible victory rather than taking the clear loss. This is not the system as it is designed, nor is it the system we should want.

Zeidman had not formally filed an application with the Supreme Court as of Monday morning. The attorneys who have represented him in the proceedings thus far, Brian Glasser and Cary Joshi of Bailey Glasser, LLP, did not immediately respond to a message from Law&Crime.