WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit today unanimously reversed an $8.2 million defamation judgment against Senate Majority PAC (SMP) and ordered the district court to enter judgment in SMP’s favor, ending a seven-year legal campaign by former Alabama judge and failed U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, who lost a 2017 Special Election to Democratic Senator Doug Jones after credible allegations surfaced about his inappropriate conduct with at least nine women, including girls as young as fourteen.
Elias Law Group attorneys proudly represented SMP in this lawsuit with important First Amendment implications for political committees.
After his 2017 loss, Moore sued SMP over a television advertisement detailing the allegations against him. The ad quoted reporting from the Washington Post, the New York Times, and other prominent outlets and diligently cited each source on screen. However, after a trial in Alabama, a jury sided with Moore and awarded him $8.2 million.
In an opinion authored by Trump-appointed Judge Elizabeth Branch, the Eleventh Circuit threw out the earlier verdict and held that Moore did not come close to meeting the “actual malice” standard the First Amendment requires before a candidate can weaponize the courts against speech they dislike.
“This ruling is a total vindication of Senate Majority PAC and a complete repudiation of Roy Moore’s pathetic seven-year effort to weaponize the courts to launder what little remains of his reputation,” said Elias Law Group partner Ezra Reese. “Senate Majority PAC ran an advertisement that cited accurate reporting from major national news outlets detailing the women who bravely came forward with allegations about Moore’s inappropriate conduct. They told Alabama voters the truth, and Alabama voters correctly decided that they did not want a disgusting creep like Roy Moore representing them in the United States Senate. Throughout this entire ordeal, Senate Majority PAC never wavered, never apologized for telling the truth, and refused to settle or let a meritless verdict stand. Democracy is stronger because Senate Majority PAC held the line rather than allowing a politician to bully them into silence.”
The Eleventh Circuit’s full opinion is available here.
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