Supreme Court Leaves in Place Reversal of Roy Moore’s $8.2 Million Defamation Verdict

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday blocked Roy Moore’s request to collect an $8.2 million defamation award stemming from a Democratic campaign advertisement that ran during his 2017 Senate bid. Justice Clarence Thomas declined Moore’s emergency application without explanation.

The decision leaves in place an April ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that reversed a 2022 federal jury verdict against the Senate Majority PAC. Moore, 79, served previously as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. He was the Republican nominee in the special election to fill the Senate seat vacated when Jeff Sessions resigned in February 2017 to become President Trump’s first attorney general.

Wendy Miller testified that she met Moore at age 14 while working as a Santa’s helper at the mall, that he told her she was pretty and offered to buy her a soda, and that he asked her out two years later. She also testified that Moore did not solicit sex during their initial meeting.

The 11th Circuit found that the Senate Majority PAC made a “negligent error at best” but that Moore had not proven actual malice.

A sworn statement from Gadsden police officer J.D. Thomas said he told Moore not to return to the mall after complaints from store managers. Moore maintained he was never banned from the shopping center.

Moore lost the 2017 election to Democrat Doug Jones after three women alleged he had sexually assaulted them, two of them while underage. Jones served the remainder of Sessions’ term and was defeated in the 2020 election by Tommy Tuberville.