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.

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.

As Moore noted in his failed application, Thomas and Justice Neil Gorsuch have urged reconsideration of the “actual malice” standard that public figures must meet to win defamation claims, a standard that stems from the court’s landmark 1964 opinion in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. But it takes four justices to grant review of petitions, and the issue has not gained traction at the high court.

In the latest example of that phenomenon earlier on Monday, Thomas and Gorsuch dissented from the Supreme Court’s refusal to take up a defamation petition from Alan Dershowitz in his appeal against CNN.

Opposing Moore’s emergency high court application, Senate Majority PAC said he “entirely failed to show that such extraordinary relief is warranted here.” The group urged the justices to reject what it called Moore’s “rank speculation” that he would be unable to collect without the emergency relief he requested.

The group, which said it’s the primary super PAC committed to the election of Senate Democrats, said its finances are strong and so there’s no need to worry about Moore being able to collect if he were to ultimately win a reversal at the high court.

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