ROUND TWO

Sarah Palin’s ‘New York Times’ Defamation Suit Revived by Court

An appeals court granted Palin another chance to prove “The New York Times” was liable for incorrectly connecting her to a mass shooting in a 2017 editorial.

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been granted another opportunity to try a defamation case against The New York Times. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday gave Palin a second chance to prove the Times was liable for incorrectly connecting her, in a 2017 editorial, to the mass shooting that seriously injured Democratic Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others. Palin’s original case was dismissed for not proving malice. However, Reuters reported that Circuit Judge John Walker, who was appointed the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 and is a first cousin to former President George H.W. Bush, said the original verdict excluded evidence that illustrated “actual malice.” Walker wrote that jurors exposed to media coverage also tainted the verdict. “The jury is sacrosanct in our legal system, and we have a duty to protect its constitutional role, both by ensuring that the jury’s role is not usurped by judges and by making certain that juries are provided with relevant proffered evidence and properly instructed on the law,” Walker wrote. If ultimately ruled in her favor, Palin’s case could overturn New York Times v. Sullivan, which set a high bar for public figures to prove defamation.