The US Supreme Court has dealt a major blow to former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, rejecting his emergency application to preserve a $8.2 million defamation verdict he had won against a Democratic super PAC over a political campaign ad aired during his 2017 Senate race. In a short, unexplained order, Justice Clarence Thomas denied Moore's emergency application, letting an appeals court ruling unanimously overturning the verdict take effect.
The decision kept in place a unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel on the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, which in April erased a jury's verdict that Moore had been defamed by a Democratic group's television ad. The Democratic group, Senate Majority PAC, ran a television ad pulling from news reports that stated that Moore had been barred from an Alabama mall "for soliciting sex from young girls" and that he had approached a girl who "was 14 and working as Santa's helper."
Background: The 2017 Senate Race and the Defamation Lawsuit
Moore, who lost the special election to Democrat Doug Jones, filed a lawsuit in federal court against Senate Majority PAC, contending that the PAC created "a campaign advertisement that falsely portrayed Roy S. Moore as a man who solicited sex from a fourteen-year-old girl" — something, Moore said, "was not true." In 2022, a jury sided with Moore and awarded him $8.2 million, finding the PAC published the defamatory message with actual malice.
Why the 11th Circuit Reversed the Jury Verdict
On April 25, a three-judge panel of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the verdict. Writing for the panel, Judge Elizabeth Branch concluded Moore had not shown the required intent, calling the PAC's conduct a "negligent error at best" that "is not a basis for a finding of actual malice." The appellate court held that a public figure pursuing a defamation-by-implication claim must prove that the publisher intended to communicate the defamatory implication — a higher bar than Moore was able to clear based on the existing evidence.
Moore's Emergency Application and What Thomas Denied
According to Moore, without the high court's help, the PAC would be free to release the supersedeas bond, leaving him unable to collect any damages if the judgment in his favor is restored. Thomas, who presides over emergency appeals for the 11th Circuit, declined to block the mandate from taking effect, effectively allowing the PAC to be released from the financial bond that had been securing the jury award while the case was on appeal.
As Moore noted in his failed application, Thomas and Justice Neil Gorsuch have previously urged reconsideration of the "actual malice" standard that public figures must meet to win defamation claims, a standard stemming from the court's landmark 1964 opinion in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. But it takes four justices to grant review of petitions, and the issue has not gained traction at the high court. For detailed coverage of the case and its First Amendment implications, see ongoing reporting from SCOTUSblog.
What Comes Next for Roy Moore
Moore has signaled that he will appeal his loss to the justices by filing a formal petition for certiorari. However, legal observers note that the Supreme Court is unlikely to grant review, particularly given that the full court has previously declined to revisit the actual malice standard established in New York Times v. Sullivan. Ezra Reese, an attorney for Senate Majority PAC, called the 11th Circuit decision a "total vindication," saying the group "told Alabama voters the truth."
The case adds to a long list of legal and political setbacks for Moore, who was twice removed from his position as chief justice — once in 2003 for disregarding a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Supreme Court building, and again in 2016 for refusing to follow the US Supreme Court's 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges recognizing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. The collapse of his $8.2 million defamation verdict represents yet another courtroom defeat for the former Republican Senate candidate.