The roy moore defamation appeal took a major turn on Friday when a federal appeals court threw out the former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice’s $8. 2 million jury win. A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said Moore did not prove that the Senate Majority PAC acted with actual malice in a 2017 campaign ad.
The ruling reverses a 2022 jury verdict in Moore’s favor and sends the case back for entry of judgment for the political committee. The dispute centers on whether the ad unfairly suggested Moore solicited sex from a 14-year-old girl who worked as a Santa’s helper at a mall in Gadsden, Alabama.
The panel said Moore failed to present clear and convincing evidence that the PAC subjectively knew, or recklessly disregarded, that its message implied a false accusation. Judge Elizabeth L. Branch wrote for the court that the record did not support the jury’s actual malice finding, the constitutional standard a public figure must meet to prevail in a defamation case.
What the Eleventh Circuit decided
In the roy moore defamation appeal, the Eleventh Circuit vacated the jury’s verdict and reversed the denial of the PAC’s motion for judgment as a matter of law. The court said the committee’s phrasing may have been imprecise, but the evidence did not show the level of intent needed for defamation by implication.
The PAC argued that its ad was tied to news reports and that its overall fact-checking efforts showed an attempt to make true statements. It also said the challenged language did not change the broader thrust of the allegations facing Moore, who had been publicly accused of misconduct involving multiple underage girls.
Immediate reaction and the legal fight ahead
Jeffrey Wittenbrink, a Baton Rouge attorney representing Moore, said Moore is considering a petition for review at the Supreme Court. He added that seeking review from the full Eleventh Circuit is also an option. Wittenbrink said the trial jury had ruled for Moore on actual malice, even though, in his words, the conventional wisdom is that public figures rarely obtain defamation judgments.
The appeals ruling also noted that Moore previously filed at least three other federal defamation lawsuits tied to the 2017 reports and lost each of them, including cases involving Washington Examiner writers and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. The court’s decision leaves the PAC’s victory in place unless Moore pursues and wins further review.
Background on the campaign ad dispute
The controversy stems from a 2017 Senate campaign ad during Moore’s race for the US Senate. Moore argued the ad went beyond the news reports it referenced and led viewers to believe the mall allegation was a credible, verifiable claim against him. The PAC said the statement was an unintentional implication and part of a broader response to the reporting circulating at the time.
The roy moore defamation appeal now moves into the next phase, with Moore weighing whether to ask a higher court to revisit the ruling. For now, the Eleventh Circuit has made clear that the evidence did not clear the high constitutional bar for actual malice, ending the $8. 2 million award unless a further appeal changes the outcome.
