Appeals Court Overturns $8.2 Million Defamation Win for Roy Moore

Appeals Court Overturns $8.2 Million Defamation Win for Roy Moore

An appeals court reversed an $8.2 million defamation verdict awarded to Roy Moore against a group that ran ads during the 2017 U.S. Senate race

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2026-04-24/appeals-court-overturns-8-2-million-defamation-win-for-roy-moore

April 24, 2026, at 4:23 p.m.
U.S. News & World Report

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An appeals court on Friday reversed an $8.2 million defamation verdict awarded to Alabama politician Roy Moore, who sued a super PAC over a 2017 political ad detailing misconduct accusations against him.

The panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Moore failed to prove the organization acted with malice, one of the legal standards for cases involving public figures. The three-judge panel vacated the defamation verdict and ordered the trial judge to enter a summary judgment in favor of Senate Majority PAC.

Moore, a former Republican judge known for his hard-line stances opposing same-sex marriage and supporting the public display of the Ten Commandments, lost the 2017 Senate race after his campaign was rocked by misconduct allegations against him. Leigh Corfman said that Moore sexually touched her in 1979 when she was 14 and he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney. Moore denied the accusation. Other women said Moore dated them, or asked them out on dates, when they were older teens.

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The lawsuit centered on one TV commercial that recounted accusations against Moore. Moore’s attorneys argued the ad, through the juxtaposition of statements and partial quotes from news articles, falsely implied he solicited sex from young girls at a shopping mall.

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