Court rejects Jones' Sandy Hook appeal
By: Maureen Groppe
USA Today
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court won't review the $1.4 billion judgment against Alex Jones, the conservative media personality and conspiracy theorist who said the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax staged by crisis actors.
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And in a separate case, the high court on October 14 [2025] declined a chance to reassess the broad legal immunity tech companies have over content hosted on their platforms, turning away an appeal in a lawsuit against Grindr by an anonymous male plaintiff who was raped at age 15 by adult men matched to him via the gay dating app.
..... On the same day, [10/14/2025] the Supreme Court rejected the appeal by Jones, who had separately asked the justices to protect his assets - including his InfoWars website.
..... A Connecticut jury in 2022 ordered Jones to pay the massive judgment to family members of several of the Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent after a judge found Jones defamed and greatly harmed them by claiming for years that the killings were staged in a government plot to seize Americans' guns.
..... Twenty-six people, including 20 children, were killed at the school by 20-year-old Adam Lanza, a who also killed his mother and later that day, himself.
..... Jones argued he should have gotten a trial before a judge found him liable for defamation and infliction of emotional distress. The consecutive judge ruled Jones was liable by default after he refused to abide by court rulings or turn over evidence. A jury then set the level of damages.
..... "the result is a financial death penalty by fiat imposed on a media defendant whose broadcasts reach millions," Jones' lawyer told the Supreme Court. in his appeal.
..... They argued that state courts should not be able to issue administrative default judgments against members of the media.
..... In addition to the $1.4 billion judgment from the Connecticut lawsuit, Jones is facing a nearly $50 million judgment form a Texas court, also for his claims that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax. That award went to the parents of a 6-year-old child killed in the murder spree.
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Jones is separately appealing that judgment and is currently challenging a court order that would force the sale of Infowars. he declared bankruptcy after losing the lawsuits, Reuters reported.
..... Chris Mattei, an attorney representing the Connecticut plaintiffs, told Reuters the families look forward to enforcing their judgment against Jones now that the Supreme Court has rejected his "latest desperate attempt to avoid accountability for the harm he has caused."
..... Jones refused to cooperate in the legal proceedings. The $1.4 billion verdict is so large it "can never be paid," according to the filing, though a bankruptcy court has ruled Jones cannot sue his personal bankruptcy to avoid paying the debt, Reuters reported.
..... He also faces tow defamation suits form other Sandy Hook parents as well as the family of a man who was falsely identified as a school shooter. Those cases have not yet gone to trial.
..... In the other cases rejected October 14 [2025] by the Supreme Court, Reuters reported the justices decided not to hear the plaintiff;s appeal of a lower court's ruling to dismiss his lawsuit seeking monetary damages against Grindr because the company was protected form liability by a provisions of federal law called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
..... Enacted in 1996, Section 230 allows websites to those user-generated content without being held legally responsible as the "publisher or speaker" of that content. The provision has shielded Online platforms form a wide range of litigation, Reuters reported.
..... Contributing" Aysha Bagchi, USA Today; Reuters