Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inboxGet our free Inside Washington emailGet our free Inside Washington emailFar-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is asking the United States Supreme Court to review the nearly $1.4 billion judgment issued against him and his media outlet Infowars for saying the horrific 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting was “staged” and a “hoax.”In the appeal, which was filed last week and made public by the court Tuesday, Jones and his lawyers argue a Connecticut judge in the case was wrong to find him liable for defamation in a default ruling and not allow the merits of the case to be heard in trial to decide if he committed “actual malice.” In her late 2021 ruling, Judge Barbara Bellis found Jones liable without a trial and only convened a jury to determine the amount of damages the Sandy Hook families would receive, citing Jones’ unwillingness to abide by the court’s orders to produce evidence to the plaintiffs. In their Supreme Court appeal, Jones’ legal team has said these were “minor” discovery violations that did not justify an unjust and disproportionate penalty. The jury would issue a $964 million verdict against Jones and Infowars’ parent company Free Speech Systems in 2022, with Bellis adding an additional $473 million in punitive damages for spreading falsehoods about the shooting that left 20 children and six school staffers dead.A Connecticut appeals court upheld all but $150 million of the award to the Sandy Hook families last December, while the state’s top court denied Jones’ request for a review in April. A separate $49 million judgment awarded to the parents of another Sandy Hook victim in a defamation lawsuit in Texas is currently being appealed. Alex Jones is throwing a hail mary to the Supreme Court in one last-ditch effort to avoid paying the Sandy Hook families. (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)The families have maintained that Jones’ conduct towards them over the years was both malicious and intentional, claiming that his motivation all along was profit, which they added was supported by his attempts to hide discovery material throughout the case. During the trial for damages, the families also testified that they were subjected to death threats and harassment from Jones’ supporters. The Infowars founder has insisted that there is no evidence linking him to those actions.According to Jones’ legal team, the default ruling violates the First Amendment protections, and the $1.4 billion judgment runs afoul of the Eighth Amendment due to excessive punishment.“It is an amount that can never be paid, and which based on the trial court’s findings may not be dischargeable in bankruptcy,” they stated. “The result is a financial death penalty by fiat imposed on a media defendant whose broadcasts reach millions.”Additionally, the conspiracist’s lawyers – Ben Broocks, Shelby Jordan and Alan Daughtry – argue that Jones’ remarks about the shooting being a hoax perpetrated by crisis actors weren’t defamatory to the victims but instead “expressions of constitutionally protected opinion.” Jones, for his part, has since asserted that he now believes the massacre was legitimately real.“The media landscape is rife with groups challenging various events, including Holocaust denial, moon landing skepticism, 9/11 conspiracy theories, and even flat Earth claims,” Jones’ attorneys declare. “However, such statements critique or dismiss the events themselves, not the character, conduct, or reputation of those associated with them.”Claiming that the “result will chill the reporting of news,” Jones’ team urged the high court to review whether state courts can impose “death penalty” default sanctions on media defendants, asserting that the Sandy Hook families themselves were “public figures” and Jones was merely reporting on issues of public concern. “Death penalty” sanctions are generally issued by courts over discovery abuses and effectively adjudicate the case, resulting in default judgments.“There is no legitimate basis for the U.S. Supreme Court to accept this last gasp from Alex Jones and we will oppose it in due course,” Chris Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, said in a statement.The appeal to the Supreme Court appears to be a last-ditch effort by Jones to avoid paying the families, which would likely see him lose in media empire.After filing for bankruptcy in 2022 following the trial losses, Jones saw a Houston judge rule in 2023 that most of the judgments in the cases would not be discharged in the bankruptcy. Eventually, the bankruptcy of Free Speech Systems was dismissed, and Jones’ personal bankruptcy was converted from Chapter 11 to a Chapter 7 liquidation.Last fall, an auction was held to sell off Infowars’ assets to pay the Sandy Hook families, with satirical news outlet The Onion being named the winning bidder. However, the sale was blocked in December after a bankruptcy judge ruled the process was flawed, allowing Jones to keep Infowars for the time being.Last month, a Texas state judge appointed a receiver to proceed with liquidating Free Speech Systems’ assets, once again opening the door for The Onion to purchase the conspiracy site. Jones is currently appealing that ruling with a Texas appeals court, which temporarily paused the receivership in late August.Earlier this year, Jones was accused of trying to shield assets of more than $5 million from the trustee of his personal bankruptcy to avoid paying the Sandy Hook families. This included claims that Jones fraudulently transferred $1.5 million to his wife, $800,000 to his father, and tried to hide his ownership of two condos with a combined value of $1.5 million.Jones, meanwhile, has insisted that even if the Infowars brand and property are taken from him, he will stay on the air by starting another company. Still, because a bankruptcy judge ruled that the families could continue to make claims on any money Jones earns in the future through other business ventures, as his behavior was deemed “willful and malicious.”
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Alex Jones begs Supreme Court to hear his appeal so he doesn’t have to pay Sandy Hook families $1.4 billion
