Supreme Court rejects Alex Jones

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and left in place the $1.4 billion judgment against him for his depiction of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as a hoax organized by crisis actors.

The Infowars host had argued that a judge was wrong to find him liable for defamation and infliction of emotional distress without holding a trial on the merits of accusations brought by relatives of the victims of the shooting, which killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut.

The justices did not comment on their order, which they issued without even asking the families of the Sandy Hook victims to respond to Jones’ appeal. An FBI agent who responded to the shooting also filed a lawsuit.

A lawyer representing the Sandy Hook families said the Supreme Court had appropriately rejected Jones’ “last-ditch attempt to avoid responsibility for the harm he has caused.”

“We look forward to enforcing the jury’s historic verdict and making Jones and Infowars pay for what they have done,” attorney Christopher Mattei said in a statement.

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An attorney representing Jones in the case did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. During his daily show on Tuesday, Jones said his lawyers believed his case was “straightforward,” while he had predicted the high court would not take up his appeal.

“I said no, they’re not going to do it for political reasons,” Jones said.

Jones scoffed at the idea that he has enough money to pay the judgment, saying his studio equipment, including five-year-old cameras, was only worth about $304,000.

“It’s about torturing me. It’s about harassing me. It’s about harassing my family. It’s about taking me off the air,” said Jones, who urged his listeners to purchase products to keep the show going.

Jones filed for bankruptcy in late 2022 and his attorneys told judges that “the plaintiffs have no possible hope of collecting” the full judgment.

He is separately appealing a $49 million judgment in a similar defamation lawsuit in Texas after he failed to turn over documents requested by the parents of another Sandy Hook victim.

In the Connecticut case, the judge issued an unusual default ruling against Jones and his company in late 2021 due to what she called the repeated failure to comply with court rulings and provide certain evidence to the Sandy Hook families. The judge convened a jury to determine how much Jones would owe.

The following year, the jury agreed to a $964 million verdict and the judge added another $473 million in punitive damages against Jones and Free Speech Systems, the Austin, Texas-based parent company of Infowars.

In November, satirical news outlet The Onion was named the winner of an auction to liquidate Infowars’ assets and help pay defamation judgments. But the bankruptcy judge threw out the auction results, citing problems with the process and The Onion’s bid.

The attempt to sell Infowars assets was moved to a Texas state court in Austin. Jones is now appealing a recent court order that appointed a receiver to liquidate the assets. Some of Jones’ personal property is also being sold as part of the bankruptcy case.

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News writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.