The Supreme Court declined to hear Alex Jones‘ effort to appeal a $1.4 billion judgment against him brought by families of those killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre.
Jones was found liable for spreading false conspiracy theories about the massacre in 2022. Jones had asserted that the shootings were staged as part of a federal plot to confiscate Americans’ guns.
In asking the Supreme Court to take the case, Jones’ attorneys argued, “If this Court allows its decision to stand, it will signal to other courts that the First Amendment’s guarantees for freedom of speech
– even vitriolic and hateful speech – can be relaxed if popular sentiment reaches a generalized consensus that the speech offends delicate sensibilities.”
Family members of the victims filed defamation and emotional distress lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas, where Jones’ Infowars talk show is based. During trial, they argued that they faced death threats and having the graves of their children defaced, among other harassment. The Sandy Hook massacre, in which 26 people were murdered, including 20 children, generated new debate over gun violence legislation, but Congress took no action. Jones had characterized the massacre as a “false flag” operation.
In 2022, a Connecticut jury awarded the families $965 million in compensatory damages and a judge slapped on $473 million in punitive damages. A jury in Texas awarded the family of victim Jesse Lewis a total of $49.3 million.
Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy protection after the judgments. The families have sought to collect the judgment through the proceeds of bankruptcy liquidation. An effort last year to have the satirical site The Onion purchase Infowars through an auction process was initially rejected by a judge.
In filings with the high court, Jones attorneys suggested that Infowars would end up “destroyed” in the hands of “its ideological nemesis” The Onion, unless the justices intervened.
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