[PUBLISH] In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

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No. 21-12828 & No. 22-10135 ____________________

ERIC ROBERT RUDOLPH, Petitioner-Appellant, versus UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Respondent- Appellee.

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Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama D.C. Docket Nos. 2:20-cv-08024-CLS, 2:00-cr-00422-CLS-TMP-1 ____________________ USCA11 Case: 21-12828 Document: 51-1 Date Filed: 02/12/2024 Page: 2 of 24

2 Opinion of the Court 21-12828

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Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia D.C. Docket Nos. 1:20-cv-02726-CAP, 1:00-cr-00805-CAP-1 ____________________

Before WILSON, GRANT, and BRASHER, Circuit Judges. GRANT, Circuit Judge: To avoid the death penalty, Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph pleaded guilty to six federal arson charges and four counts of use of a destructive device during and in relation to a crime of violence. As part of his plea deal, Rudolph waived the right to appeal his conviction and his sentence, as well as the right to collaterally attack his sentence in any post-conviction proceeding, including under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. In spite of the plain language of his plea agreement, Rudolph filed two petitions for habeas corpus, seeking to vacate several of his sentences under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. Those petitions—a result of the evergreen litigation opportunities introduced by the categorical approach—asserted that his convictions for using an explosive during a crime of violence were unlawful in light of new Supreme Court precedent. Whether or not that is true, Rudolph’s motions are collateral attacks on his sentences, so his plea agreements do not allow them. USCA11 Case: 21-12828 Document: 51-1 Date Filed: 02/12/2024 Page: 3 of 24

21-12828 Opinion of the Court 3

I. A. Eric Rudolph committed a series of bombings in Atlanta and Birmingham between 1996 and 1998, killing two people and injuring many others. He used homemade explosives designed to maximize casualties. His first target was the 1996 Centennial Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. He specifically selected this location as a “good target” for his first act of domestic terrorism because “the whole world would be watching.” On the night of July 26, 1996, more than 50,000 people were gathered in downtown Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park. Unbeknownst to them, Rudolph had placed a bomb under a bench near the main stage—three metal plumbing pipes covered with more than five pounds of three-inch cut masonry nails serving as homemade shrapnel. In the early morning hours, the bomb exploded, instantly killing Alice Hawthorne, a 44-year-old woman who had come to Atlanta with her daughter to participate in the Olympic festivities. More than 100 other people were seriously injured, and a cameraman also di