Infowars’ Alex Jones has played a serious card. He is requesting that the U.S. Supreme Court put on hold a defamation judgment of almost $1.5 billion that has since been levied against him. This unusual legal maneuver comes about because this massive $1.5 billion+ judgment threatens the sale of his media empire, Infowars. The company has been under severe financial pressure since the decision.
In 2022, a Connecticut court ordered Jones to pay $1.5 billion in damages. This decision, of course, came after his truly crazy conspiracy theorizing about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting being a hoax. In the course of this tragedy, a lone gunman was able to shoot and kill twenty children and six adults in Newtown, Connecticut. Jones is the consummate right-wing conspiracy theorist and he’s marketed himself as such. He now says the shooting was a “staged” government conspiracy to take away gun rights, maintaining that “no one died.”
The ruling against Jones has resulted in catastrophic financial penalties for his company—Free Speech Systems, which runs Infowars. We all know the story by now—he subsequently filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas. As part of the bankruptcy proceedings to compensate the families of Sandy Hook victims, Infowars was auctioned off. The families supported a new Infowars sale proposal—to The Onion. Sadly, the sale seems doomed, having been rejected after last year’s bankruptcy auction.
Jones made his application to the Supreme Court because he was concerned that Infowars would be sold off. He criticized the buyer as his “ideological nemesis” contending this would result in “irreparable injury.” He argues that by doing this, the government would be purposely destroying his platform.
Assuming Jones doesn’t withdraw his petition before Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider his request for a stay in private on Friday. His lawyers argue that he is a media defendant. As of today, they are seeking to overturn the defamation ruling while they appeal the decision.
Jones’ stance on the Sandy Hook shooting has fluctuated over the years. He confessed during another defamation trial in Texas that the attack was “100% staged.” Despite his controversial views, he identifies as “a steadfast proponent of questioning mainstream narratives from the government and mainstream news media.”
The legal war is intensifying, and its post-Jones impact would likely be far-reaching. This result might establish significant free speech and media accountability precedents, particularly against the backdrop of public tragedy.