Will the Supreme Court Reject Alex Jones as the All-Time Poster Child for “Actual Malice”?

“Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it.”

- Samuel Johnson

Alex Jones speaking with attendees at The People's Convention at Huntington Place in Detroit, Michigan. PHOTO CREDIT: Gage Skidmore

​Alex Jones, founder of InfoWars, is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a defamation judgment ordering him to pay nearly $1.5 billion to an FBI agent and parents of children murdered in the Sandy Hook school massacre that took 26 lives.

Jones notoriously claimed the 2012 tragedy in Connecticut was a deep-state “hoax” and that the grieving parents of 20 slain children were “crisis actors” hired to promote gun control. Once on the stand, he admitted that the massacre was “100 percent” real, but now argues that his appeal should succeed on First Amendment grounds, with references to a landmark First Amendment case.

Does Jones Have a Leg to Stand On?

In New York Times v. Sullivan (1964), the Court raised the bar for public figures to win libel suits, requiring proof of “actual malice” – reckless disregard for the truth or knowingly making false statements. The decision gave critics of the powerful “breathing space” to report without undue fear of crushing lawsuits.

Jones’ lawyers invoke Sullivan, but their argument rests on the claim that a Connecticut court’s default judgment makes the precedent irrelevant. That claim is undercut by Jones’ refusal to participate in his trial, including ignoring discovery orders. Worse for Jones, the odds against him are steep. The Supreme Court hears fewer than 100 cases of 6,000 to 7,000 petitions it receives each year.

Viewed through the lens of Sullivan, Jones’ defamation was about as serious as it gets. As a result of Jones’ attacks, Sandy Hook survivors testified that they suffered from threats of death and rape, along with the added trauma of being branded impostors before an audience of millions.

How Might the Court Consider this Petition?
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A Supreme Court clerk weighing this petition would likely check every Sullivan box:
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• Reckless disregard for truth? Check.
• Knowingly making false statements? Check.
• The Sullivan standard for “actual malice”? Check and check.

The First Amendment, bolstered by Sullivan, likely still leaves Jones without sufficient “breathing space” to protect his outrageous claims. “Speech is free,” a plaintiff’s lawyer in the case once told a jury, “but lies you have to pay for.”

We have sometimes criticized how courts have subsequently gone beyond Sullivan to the point of making it almost impossible for public figures to win a defamation case. The Jones case, however, may mark the bottom line. His snarling visage could then become the enduring image of what “actual malice” truly means.
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For a deeper dive on Sullivan’s history and legacy, check out this piece by Columbia’s Knight First Amendment Institute.

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