WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected conservative conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ latest attempt to block a nearly $1.5 billion defamation judgment he faces over false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax.
The court, without comment, rejected Jones’ appeal of a state court ruling.
Last week he urged the court to intervene urgently, saying that if the court did not take action, his website, Infowars, risked being handed over to satirical news site The Onion.
The proposed acquisition would be used to help fund payments to family members of Sandy Hook victims.
Jones’ lawyers had warned in the filing last week that if the case was not dropped, “InfoWars will have been acquired by its ideological nemesis and destroyed.”
In December 2012, a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
After the shooting, Jones suggested on more than one occasion during his online shows that it was a “staged event,” according to court documents.
The victims’ families then sued in Connecticut state court, alleging defamation and other violations of state law.
Jones, who owns InfoWars through his company Free Speech Systems, later lost attempts in state court to appeal the ruling. It is also seeking bankruptcy protection.
The Onion failed in a previous attempt to acquire InfoWars through a bankruptcy auction, but Jones’ attorney said a new attempt is underway in Texas state court.
