Alex Jones, the far right conspiracy theorist and host of the Infowars show, has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to block or review the massive defamation judgment entered against him in connection with his false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax. The total judgment in the Connecticut case, including compensatory and punitive damages awarded to the victims' families and an FBI agent, is approximately $1.5 billion. Jones is appealing the verdict, which he argues violates his constitutional rights.
Jones's legal team is primarily seeking relief from the default judgment that found him liable for defamation without a trial on the merits of the allegations. A Connecticut judge issued the default ruling as a sanction against Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, for their repeated failure to comply with court orders and turn over evidence during discovery. Jones argues that imposing liability as a sanction for "minor" discovery violations is unjust and disproportionate, and that the plaintiffs who he claims are public figures should have been required to prove "actual malice" against him at a full trial, as required by First Amendment precedent.
The appeal also targets the enormous financial penalty, asserting that the nearly $1.5 billion judgment constitutes excessive punishment under the Eighth Amendment, calling it a "financial death penalty" that he can never pay. His lawyers claim that allowing the judgment to stand would "chill the reporting of news" and lead to widespread self censorship among journalists for fear of similar massive awards. In addition to appealing the judgment, Jones has also asked the Supreme Court to immediately block the sale of his media assets, specifically his website InfoWars, which was put up for auction during his company’s bankruptcy proceedings to help satisfy the judgments. He argued that without a stay, InfoWars would be acquired and destroyed by his "ideological nemesis," which he believes is the plaintiffs' intention.
The families of the Sandy Hook victims, who endured years of threats and harassment from Jones's followers because of his lies, have consistently opposed his appeals, maintaining that his conduct was malicious and intentional and their claims against him are well-founded. A lower appellate court in Connecticut had largely upheld the judgment, and the Connecticut Supreme Court previously declined to hear his appeal on the issue of liability. Jones's petition to the U.S. Supreme Court represents a last ditch effort to overturn or significantly reduce the judgment and prevent the liquidation of his media empire.
