US Supreme Court rejects Alex Jones appeal in Sandy Hook shooting case

The US Supreme Court has rejected an application by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to overturn the nearly $1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) defamation judgment against him.

Jones was ordered to make the payment in 2022 for claiming the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School — which killed 20 schoolchildren and six educators — was a hoax.

In order to make this payment, Jones was forced to sell his media company Infowars to the satirical news site The Onion. He told America’s highest court that the sale would cause irreparable harm to him and his audience of 30 million.

Jones has yet to pay any of the damages he owes to the Sandy Hook families.

The Supreme Court did not explain its decision to reject his request.

Jones’ lawyers had made a free speech argument: that he should have the same protections as journalists under the Constitution’s First Amendment. And Jones argued the financial consequences were too severe.

“The result is a financial death sentence imposed by decree on an accused media outlet whose broadcasts reach millions of people,” he told the Supreme Court as part of his appeal.

While The Onion’s attempted takeover of Infowars was rejected by a bankruptcy judge last year, Infowars could soon be up for sale again, giving The Onion another chance.

Legal pressure against Jones has intensified since he was found liable by two juries for defamation and infliction of emotional distress over his lies about the Sandy Hook school shooting.

After the first verdict in Connecticut, Jones filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas and Infowars was auctioned off to pay the Sandy Hook families, who had sued to collect the judgment.

It was during court proceedings in Texas that Jones admitted the attack was “100% real.” He previously claimed the massacre was “staged” as part of a government plot to take arms from Americans and that “no one died.”