Washington D.C — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, leaving intact a $1.4 billion defamation judgment against him for repeatedly claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax staged by crisis actors.
The justices issued their decision without comment, rejecting Jones’s argument that he had been denied a fair trial. Jones had contended that a Connecticut judge’s default ruling against him—imposed after his repeated failure to comply with court orders and produce evidence—violated his constitutional rights.
Families of victims of the Sandy Hook massacre, in which 20 first graders and six educators were killed, sued Jones and his media company, Free Speech Systems, over years of false claims that the tragedy was fabricated to promote gun control. An FBI agent who responded to the shooting also joined the lawsuit.
In 2022, a Connecticut jury awarded nearly $964 million in damages to the plaintiffs, with the judge later adding $473 million in punitive damages, bringing the total to roughly $1.4 billion. Jones has since filed for bankruptcy, and his attorneys have argued that the families are unlikely to collect the full amount.
A separate defamation case in Texas resulted in a $49 million judgment, which Jones is still appealing. Meanwhile, efforts to liquidate his assets—including the Infowars media platform—have faced setbacks. An earlier attempt to auction Infowars to satirical outlet The Onion was invalidated by a bankruptcy judge, and the case has since moved to a Texas state court.
The Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene effectively ends Jones’s federal legal avenues in the Connecticut case, leaving the defamation verdict intact. Jones has continued to broadcast on Infowars, portraying the litigation as politically motivated and warning his followers of what he calls an assault on free speech.
Legal analysts say the ruling underscores the judiciary’s growing intolerance of defendants who use misinformation to profit from tragedy while defying court orders.
