The Supreme Court rejects Josh Duggar’s child abuse appeal

Josh Duggar in his booking photo after his 2021 arrest in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Washington County Sheriff’s Office via Getty Images

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by Josh Duggar, a former reality TV star convicted of downloading child sexual abuse images.

Duggar was on the TLC show 19 children and counting with his extended family before his sentencing in 2021.

As usual, the court did not elaborate on the denial.

Federal authorities investigated after police in Little Rock, Arkansas, discovered that child sex abuse material was being shared from a computer traced back to him. Investigators have said images of sexual abuse of children, including toddlers, were downloaded to a computer at a car dealership Duggar owned in 2019. He was sentenced to twelve and a half years in prison.

Lower courts upheld his conviction, rejecting Duggar’s argument that his lawyers 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.

TLC cancelled 19 children and counting in 2015 following allegations that Duggar had abused four of his sisters and a babysitter years earlier. Authorities began investigating after receiving a tip from a family friend, but concluded that the statute of limitations for any charges had expired.
Duggar’s parents said after the allegations resurfaced in 2015 that he had confessed to the fondling and apologized privately. Duggar subsequently publicly apologized for unspecified behavior and resigned as a lobbyist for the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group.