The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected right-wing broadcaster Alex Jones’ final appeal to overturn a staggering $1.4 billion defamation judgment awarded to the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims, sealing one of the most consequential free speech and defamation cases in modern American history.
The high court denied Jones’ petition for a writ of certiorari, effectively ending his effort to challenge the Connecticut state court decision that he has long claimed was a “death penalty sanction” against his InfoWars media empire.
Jones Claimed “Unconstitutional Punishment”
In his petition, Jones and Free Speech Systems LLC, the company behind his InfoWars radio and TV shows, argued that Connecticut courts violated his First Amendment rights by entering a default judgment against him and allowing jurors to award $1.4 billion in damages without a factual trial proving that he defamed the victims’ families.
The Connecticut trial court had ruled against Jones after repeated failures to comply with discovery orders, concluding he intentionally obstructed the judicial process. Jones maintained that the ruling robbed him of a fair trial and labeled the damages “excessive and punitive.”
