Justice – The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected Alex Jones’ latest appeal to halt the nearly $1.5 billion defamation judgment levied against him for spreading false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre was a hoax.
In a brief order issued on Tuesday, the Court declined to hear Jones’ emergency request, effectively upholding previous state court rulings. The decision marks the end of Jones’ most recent attempt to shield himself from the massive financial penalties owed to the victims’ families.
Jones, the far-right host and founder of Infowars, had petitioned the justices to intervene immediately, warning that without their action, ownership of his media company could be transferred to the satirical news outlet The Onion as part of efforts to recover compensation for the Sandy Hook families.
Jones’ legal team cautioned that if the Supreme Court failed to step in, “InfoWars will have been acquired by its ideological nemesis and destroyed.”
A Long Legal Battle
The defamation case stems from Jones’ repeated false statements that the December 2012 mass shooting, which claimed the lives of 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, was a “staged event” orchestrated by gun control advocates.
Families of the victims filed suit in Connecticut state court, arguing that Jones’ conspiracy theories caused them years of emotional trauma and harassment from his followers. In 2022, a state jury awarded them nearly $1.5 billion in damages, one of the largest defamation verdicts in U.S. history.
Since then, Jones has repeatedly appealed and sought bankruptcy protection, claiming he cannot afford to pay the full judgment. He owns Infowars through his parent company, Free Speech Systems, which has also filed for bankruptcy.
Infowars’ Future in Limbo
The Onion had previously attempted to purchase Infowars during a bankruptcy auction, but that effort fell through. According to Jones’s lawyer, a new acquisition attempt is underway in Texas state court, potentially giving the satire site control over Jones’s flagship media brand as a means of funding payments to the Sandy Hook families.
The Supreme Court’s decision not to intervene leaves Jones with few remaining legal options. Despite his claims of financial hardship, the court’s refusal signals that his long-running campaign to overturn the defamation judgment has reached a dead end.
By the Midtown Times, Adapted from an article by NBC News (October 14, 2025).
