The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by former Army scientist Steven J. Hatfill, a specialist in biological weapons, to revive his libel lawsuit against The New York Times for falsely implicating him in the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks.

The appeal of the scientist was rejected by the Supreme Court and the ruling of the High Court was declared to be correct.

The FBI had been led by circumstantial evidence to suspect Hatfill’s involvement in the anthrax attacks that killed five people and sickened 17 just weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft had publicly identified Hatfill, as a “person of interest” in the investigation.

The Fourth Circuit ruled that the trial judge had been correct in finding that Dr. Hatfill was a public figure. He had to meet an especially high standard to win his suit against The New York Times.  Dr. Hatfill had to prove that The New York Times published the damaging material even while knowing or suspecting that he was being falsely implicated as guilty. But The New York Times went ahead with the publication of the damaging material.