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05/25/2018

Alex Jones lawsuits: This is not a First Amendment issue

From Rolling Stone

The problem with being a world-famous conspiratorialist like Alex Jones is that there is no room for half-measures. Once you say that the parents of the children slaughtered at Sandy Hook Elementary School are frauds and actors, once you claim the young victims were not murdered by Adam Lanza but are still living, once you go after people at the worst possible moment in their lives, there's no retreat to the language of truth, reason or sensibility. And that is why Jones is in big legal trouble as three civil lawsuits against him proceed toward trial.

The latest case was filed earlier this week in state court in Connecticut by the families of six Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent who responded immediately to the crime scene in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14th, 2012. Jones is named as the main defendant, but there are many others on the hook, including companies that help Jones distribute his diatribes to audiences around the world. Let me make my prediction early: if this case goes to trial the defendants will lose and face enormous financial consequences.

The allegations in the complaint offer a comprehensive and wrenching account of what Jones and his fellow travelers have put these families through since December 2012. The threats. The harassment. The online abuse. The physical confrontations. Most of us have known for years what Jones was saying about Sandy Hook, but few of us have followed through to learn precisely what impact those words have had on their targets. The complaint fills in those blanks in grim detail. It reminds us of the pain Jones has caused, and continues to cause – and no ethical defense lawyer is likely to argue otherwise as this case proceeds.

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