The facts
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Roy Moore's attempt to reinstate an $8.2 million defamation verdict awarded to him. The verdict stemmed from a 2017 Senate race ad funded by Senate Majority PAC, a Democratic-aligned super PAC. Justices declined to hear Moore's appeal of a lower court decision that vacated the large verdict, keeping in place the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling that erased the jury's decision. Senate Majority PAC argued the ad was truthful. Moore, a former Alabama chief justice, lost the 2017 Senate race amid misconduct allegations. He filed a defamation lawsuit against Senate Majority PAC, alleging an ad falsely implied he was accused of soliciting sex from young girls. Moore's attorneys stated the ad broadcast a "fabricated accusation" into Alabama homes. A federal jury initially awarded Moore $8.2 million in damages in 2022. However, the appeals court vacated the verdict, finding Moore failed to prove the organization acted with malice, a legal standard for cases involving public figures. Moore had previously appealed to the Supreme Court in June, seeking to put the 11th Circuit decision on hold.
Our take
Roy Moore, the human monument to Confederate-grade judgment, got his final legal spanking from the highest court in the land. The Supreme Court told the former Alabama chief justice to go fuck himself with his $8.2 million defamation verdict, leaving it vacated and his reputation exactly where it belongs: in the septic tank of history.
This sanctimonious prick thought he could sue a super PAC because an ad about his alleged affinity for young girls hurt his feelings during a Senate race he spectacularly lost. Let’s be clear: the ad didn’t lose him that race. Being Roy Moore lost him that race. The voters took one look at the accusations and his creepy, anachronistic face and decided they’d rather be represented by a literal bag of dog shit.
So Moore, in a stunning display of having absolutely zero self-awareness, sued. And a jury, presumably composed of people who think ‘defamation’ is a fancy word for ‘mean tweet,’ initially handed him eight-point-two million reasons to keep being a professional victim. But an appeals court, having a rare moment of lucidity, pointed out the tiny, pesky legal detail that public figures like Moore have to prove actual malice. He couldn’t. Because the ad was, in the court’s view, truthful. Oops.
His final Hail Mary was begging the Supreme Court to step in, a move so desperate it reeked of the same entitled vanity that makes him think he’s a crusader instead of a cautionary tale. The justices took one whiff of this bullshit and flushed it without a second thought. Now Moore is left with nothing but the memory of a giant check that evaporated and the enduring legacy of being a punchline who got laughed out of every chamber that matters. What a pathetic, grifting asshole. The only thing defamed here was the intelligence of anyone who ever took him seriously.
