The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a bid by former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore to collect an $8.2 million defamation award stemming from a Democratic campaign ad that ran during his unsuccessful 2017 Senate bid.
Moore, 79, had asked the court to stay an April ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that reversed a federal jury’s 2022 finding against the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC.
Justice Clarence Thomas declined Moore’s emergency application without explanation, as is common in such cases.
Moore, best known for his hard-line stance against same-sex marriage and support for displaying the Ten Commandments on federal property, was the Republican nominee in a special election to replace Jeff Sessions, who resigned from the Senate to become President Trump’s first attorney general.
Despite Trump’s backing in a state he won by 28 percentage points, Moore narrowly lost to Democrat Doug Jones after three women alleged that the judge had sexually assaulted them, with two women saying the encounters took place while they were underage.
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