The U.S. Supreme Court rejects former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's appeal to restore an $8.2 million defamation verdict against the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC. The decision leaves in place an appeals court ruling that vacated the 2022 jury award, finding Moore failed to meet the high legal standard of actual malice. The legal battle stemmed from a 2017 campaign ad that Moore argued falsely implied he solicited teenage girls at a local shopping mall.
Supreme Court actions on Moore's appeal
- ▪The Supreme Court in June 2026 rejected Roy Moore's emergency request to put the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision on hold while he appealed.
- ▪The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, 5 October 2026, rejected Roy Moore's appeal to restore an $8.2 million defamation verdict against Senate Majority PAC.
History of the defamation lawsuit
- ▪An Alabama federal jury in 2022 awarded Roy Moore $8.2 million in damages after agreeing that the 2017 Senate Majority PAC campaign ad defamed him
- ▪The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Roy Moore's $8.2 million verdict because he failed to prove Senate Majority PAC acted with actual malice.
- ▪Roy Moore filed a defamation lawsuit against Senate Majority PAC over a television ad funded by the political action committee during the 2017 Senate race.
Arguments by Roy Moore's legal team
- ▪Roy Moore's attorneys argued the 2017 Senate Majority PAC ad juxtaposed statements and partial quotes to falsely imply he was accused of soliciting sex from young girls at a mall
- ▪Roy Moore's attorneys stated the Senate Majority PAC campaign ad's fabricated accusation was broadcast into Alabama homes 533 times in the final days of the 2017 Senate election
- ▪Roy Moore's lawyers petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, warning that allowing publishers to escape verdicts by quoting fragments to manufacture a false whole nullifies the 1991 Masson precedent
Legal standards for defamation
- ▪The actual malice standard, established in New York Times v. Sullivan, requires public figures to prove a publisher knew a statement was false or acted with reckless disregard.
- ▪The 1991 Masson Supreme Court precedent established that deliberately altering a direct quote does not amount to defamation unless it changes the factual meaning.
Allegations of sexual misconduct
- ▪Leigh Corfman accused Roy Moore of inappropriately touching her in 1979 when she was 14 years old and he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney.
- ▪Roy Moore denied the sexual misconduct allegations made by Leigh Corfman and other women, which arose during his unsuccessful 2017 Alabama special election campaign for a U.S. Senate seat
Debatable claims
- ▪Multi-million dollar defamation verdicts are necessary to deter deceptive political advertising
- ▪The 'actual malice' standard excessively shields political campaigns from defamation lawsuits
- ▪Appellate courts should defer to jury verdicts in public-figure defamation cases
- ▪Using selective quotes to imply a false accusation is protected political speech
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