Justice Clarence Thomas won’t block Roy Moore’s defamation loss from taking effect

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday rejected an emergency motion from Roy Moore, in litigation related to Moore’s bid to save the $8.2 million jury award he won over a campaign ad that he said falsely portrayed him as soliciting sex from a 14-year-old girl.

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An appeals court vacated the Alabama jury’s verdict, and the former state judge and failed GOP Senate candidate signaled that he will appeal that loss to the justices.

In the meantime, his emergency application that Thomas rejected on Monday had asked to halt the appellate ruling from taking effect while Moore prepares his Supreme Court petition. Moore said that without high court intervention, his ability to collect would be hampered if the justices ultimately grant review of his petition and side with him.

Moore’s application went to Thomas because he is the justice assigned to receive urgent motions from the circuit that ruled against Moore on appeal. The justices are each assigned to different lower court regions. In line with the typical practice for such rejections, Thomas did not provide any explanation. Justices usually refer what they see as significant matters to the full bench for consideration, so Thomas’ solo denial suggests he did not see Moore’s application as a close call.

To be clear, the justices will still be free to take up Moore’s underlying petition after he presents it to them and the opposing party has a chance to respond.

In this emergency litigation, the appeals court declined to halt its ruling from taking effect while Moore petitions the justices. The group that ran the ad, the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC, successfully argued to the appeals court that it shouldn’t halt its ruling from taking effect because, among other reasons, it said the Supreme Court is unlikely even to grant review of Moore’s forthcoming petition, much less side with him.