Topline
An Alabama jury found that Roy Moore, the twice-removed Alabama chief justice and failed Senate candidate, did not defame a woman who accused him of molesting her when she was 14—nor did she defame him—in two lawsuits filed against each other in the wake of a 2017 election that turned when the allegations surfaced.
Key Facts
Leigh Corfman filed the initial defamation suit, claiming Moore’s denials of sexual misconduct hurt her reputation.
Corfman told the Washington Post in 2017 that Moore had touched her inappropriately at his home in 1979, when Moore was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney and she was a 14-year-old girl.
Moore denied Corfman’s claim, along with sexual misconduct allegations several other women made during the 2017 campaign, and filed his own suit against her for defamation, claiming she made up the molestation story to hurt him politically.
Key Background
The sexual misconduct allegations against Moore, who was twice removed from the Alabama Supreme Court during a lengthy judicial career, were widely seen as the main factor in his loss to Democrat Doug Jones in the deep-red state, which came just over a year after former President Donald Trump carried Alabama by nearly 28 percentage points. Though Moore denied the accusations, he lost support from several top Republicans, including then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and then House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who called on him to drop out of the race. Trump did not withdraw his endorsement of Moore over the allegations, despite backing another Republican in the GOP primary. Moore’s loss at the time was seen as a blow for Trump, though Republicans maintained the majority in the Senate.
Surprising Fact
Moore ran for Senate again in 2020, even though Trump urged him not to run, but he finished a distant fourth in the Republican primary, gathering just 7% of the vote. Republican nominee Tommy Tuberville would go on to easily defeat the incumbent Jones in the general election, winning more than 60% of the vote.
Tangent
Jones was reportedly considered for the attorney general post in the Biden Administration, but the job ended up going to former Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. On Tuesday, the White House reportedly tapped Jones to serve as “sherpa” to guide President Joe Biden’s upcoming Supreme Court nominee through the Senate confirmation process.
Further Reading
Jury: No defamation from Roy Moore or woman who accused him (Associated Press)
Woman says Roy Moore initiated sexual encounter when she was 14, he was 32 (Washington Post)
Biden Taps Ex-Sen. Doug Jones As ‘Sherpa’ To Guide Supreme Court Nominee (Forbes)
