Judge dismisses Sarah Palin libel lawsuit against New York Times

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin arrives at federal court with former NHL hockey player Ron Duguay in New York on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022. Picture: AP Photo/Jeenah Moon

A US judge has said he will dismiss a libel lawsuit that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin filed against the New York Times, claiming the newspaper damaged her reputation with an editorial falsely linking her campaign rhetoric to a mass shooting.

US District Judge Jed Rakoff made the ruling with a jury still deliberating at a New York City trial where the former vice-presidential candidate gave evidence last week.

The judge said Ms Palin had failed to show that the newspaper acted out of malice, something required in libel lawsuits involving public figures.

Judge Rakoff says he will let jury deliberations continue in case his decision ends up being reversed on appeal.

Lawyers for Ms Palin and the New York Times declined to comment on the judge’s decision.

She sued the newspaper in 2017, claiming it had damaged her career as a political commentator and consultant with an editorial about gun control published after congressman Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, was wounded when a man opened fire on a congressional baseball team practice in Washington.

In the editorial, the newspaper wrote that before a 2011 mass shooting in Arizona that severely wounded former congresswoman Gabby Giffords and killed six others, Ms Palin’s political action committee had contributed to an atmosphere of violence by circulating a map of electoral districts that put Ms Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylised crosshairs.

The Times acknowledged that then-editorial page editor James Bennet had inserted wording that wrongly described the map and any link to the shooting, but the newspaper’s lawyers said he made an “honest mistake” that was never intended to harm Ms Palin.

To prove malice, her lawyers had to show Mr Bennet knew the wording was false or he knew that there was “a high probability” that it was false, the judge said.

Despite his ruling, Judge Rakoff said he was “hardly surprised Ms Palin brought a lawsuit. I think this is an example of very unfortunate editorialising on the part of The Times”.