The bill came due for Alex Jones last week—albeit several years too late. Thursday last week, Texas district court judge Maya Guerra Gamble issued three default judgments against Jones in two defamation suits filed by the families of Sandy Hook victims. The rulings hold Jones responsible for all damages in the suit—thus legally holding him to account for the harassment and trolling the families faced as a result of Jones’ claims that Sandy Hook was a false flag.
While the final figure is still to be determined, it’s very likely that the final amount will be enough to effectively put InfoWars out of business—and Jones almost certainly knows it. That probably explains why he spent Thursday whining about how this ruling effectively destroys the First Amendment.
In a joint statement issued by Jones and an InfoWars lawyer, Jones claimed that Gamble’s ruling amounts to nothing less than an attack on free speech.
"The trial court's entry of a default in these cases is stunning," Jones wrote in a joint statement with Infowars attorney Norm Pattis. "It takes no account of the tens of thousands of documents produced by the defendants, the hours spent sitting for depositions and the various sworn statements filed in these cases."
"Nothing less than the fundamental right to speak freely is at stake in these cases," the two added. "It is not [sic] overstatement to say the first amendment was crucified today."
Um, Alex? I’m pretty close to an absolutist on free speech. But I don’t want to live in a world where “the right to speak freely” gives you carte blanche to effectively call the families of mass shooting victims liars. And I don’t want to live in a world where those claims can lead to years of harassment, trolling, and death threats.
Those families have a right to mourn—and you’ve trampled on that right for almost a decade. This default judgment was at least six years overdue. RIP InfoWars, 1999-2021.