Judging Freedom - Jury awards nearly $1 B to Sandy Hook families in Alex Jones case

Episode Date: October 13, 2022

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Resolve to earn your degree in the new year in the Bay with WGU. With courses available online 24-7 and monthly start dates, WGU offers maximum flexibility so you can focus on your future. Learn more at wgu.edu. Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Thursday, October 13th, 2022. It's about 9 940 in the morning here on the east coast of the United States. Not far from where I am now yesterday, a jury in a state court in Connecticut awarded nearly a billion dollars to Alex Jones and I have been friends and we agree on many issues, not on this Sandy Hook issue, but we agree on many issues. He's been on judging freedom. When he comes on judging freedom, my numbers go through the roof.

And I have happily been on his show InfoWars for many years. Alex Jones, of course, is being punished for expressing an opinion, a hurtful opinion, an opinion not based in fact, but nevertheless an opinion. In every state in the union, except Connecticut, opinions are protected speech. You can have an opinion on anything you want. The president has sex with a duck. That's crazy. Is there any evidence for it? No.

But you can say that if you want. The moon landing was a hoax. Nobody ever landed on the moon. Those are all fake pictures that we're looking at. Is there any evidence for that? No, but you can say it. Why can you say it? For two reasons. One, you have the natural human right to think as you wish and say what you want and publish what you say. Two, the First Amendment says Congress shall make no law, I'm emphasizing no, abridging the freedom of speech. And the 14th Amendment has been interpreted to apply the First Amendment to the states. Moreover, the Supreme Court has ruled at least eight or nine times in

the past 100 years that opinions are protected speech. While the Sandy Hook massacre occurred, it caused horrific harm. It was the murder and slaughter of little babies, little children in school. The murderer killed himself. The parents suffered egregiously. And Alex went on air and said it didn't happen. An opinion he's entitled to have and an opinion he's entitled to express. Connecticut then changed its law retroactively so that certain opinions, if you make money off the opinion, and of course, Alex makes money. We all try to make money with our podcasts. Some make more money than others. Alex is close to being the king of the hill in this area. If you make money in

Connecticut off the podcast, you can be punished for your speech, and there's no limit to the punishment. Alex suffered a default judgment. He did not defend lawsuits against him in Connecticut, and as a result, the trials now are not, did he say this and did he cause harm? It's how much harm did he cause? So two months ago, a Texas jury for different plaintiffs, but the same case, Sandy Hook plaintiffs, parents has a cap on these, so it's reduced to $4.5 million. Connecticut has no cap. Alex is now faced with a nearly $1 billion judgment. He probably will file for bankruptcy. He'll have to sell his assets. Whatever assets he sells will go into a pool, and the trustee in bankruptcy will distribute those funds

to the plaintiffs. One of these plaintiffs, this is unheard of, is an FBI agent. I never heard of the FBI suing because somebody involved in an FBI investigation said something nasty about the FBI. But the Connecticut courts permitted it. The jury bought it. This person is receiving a substantial portion of that billion dollars. So I don't think the billion will ever be paid. I don't know what Alex and his companies are worth. Whatever it is, he'll go into bankruptcy, liquidate. The trustee will decide how much money goes to Alex so he can live and earn a living and pay his bills and how much money

will go to these people. And then he'll start all over again. A terrible state of affairs. It's terrible for everybody in the media that we should have to worry if an opinion, an opinion we express is going to result in our own bankruptcy. You have to worry if an opinion, an opinion we express, is going to result in our own bankruptcy. You have to worry about that? Only in Connecticut. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom. Resolve to earn your degree in the new year in the Bay with WGU. We'll be right back. to graduate sooner than you think by demonstrating mastery of the material you know. Make 2025 the year you focus on your future.

Learn more at wgu.edu.