Montgomery, AL — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s appeal seeking to restore an $8.2 million defamation verdict tied to a 2017 Senate campaign advertisement.
The decision leaves intact an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that overturned a federal jury’s finding in Moore’s favor. The original case involved an advertisement funded by the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC during Moore’s unsuccessful 2017 Senate campaign.
Moore argued that the ad combined excerpts from separate news reports in a way that falsely suggested he had been accused of soliciting sex from young girls at a shopping mall. A federal jury agreed with him in 2022 and awarded $8.2 million in damages.
The appeals court later vacated that verdict, concluding Moore had failed to prove the PAC acted with “actual malice,” the heightened legal standard public figures generally must meet in defamation cases. The Supreme Court’s refusal to take the case means that ruling remains in effect.
Moore’s 2017 campaign was dominated by sexual misconduct allegations. Leigh Corfman said Moore sexually touched her in 1979 when she was 14 and he was 32. Moore has denied that allegation and other accusations made against him.
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