Disgraced reality star Josh Duggar loses as Supreme Court rejects child sex abuse appeal

Disgraced former reality TV star Josh Duggar's appeal to the Supreme Court over his possession of child sexual abuse images has been denied.

The Supreme Court "did not elaborate on the denial, as is typical," the report noted.

Duggar, who was a main character on the TLC Christian family reality show "19 Kids and Counting" and previously served as the executive director of the far-right antigay hate group Family Research Council's lobbying arm, was alleged to have molested several of his siblings when he was between the ages of 12 and 16, which resulted in the series being canceled.

He was later charged and convicted of downloading child sexual abuse images in December 2021.

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Since then, he has been seeking a new trial, under the theory that he was not allowed to mount the defense that another employee has access to the same computer and it was not established he had been the one behind the downloads.

According to the Associated Press, "Lower courts have upheld his conviction, rejecting Duggar’s argument that his attorneys should have been able to ask about the prior sex-offense conviction of a former employee of the dealership who had used the same computer. Duggar’s attorneys did not ask the former employee to testify after the judge ruled they could not mention the prior conviction."

Duggar's scandals have become a symbolic point often used by critics of conservative Christianity in America of the movement's hypocrisy, pushing for the curtailment of sexual espression in society while failing to protect children in their own communities and circles from abuse and harm.