Sarah Palin Scores Major Court Win in Her Battle Against the New York Times
Sarah Palin, the former Republican governor of Alaska, has achieved a significant but modest legal victory over The New York Times in a defamation lawsuit stemming from a 2017 editorial that incorrectly linked her to a mass shooting that injured Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. The original case had been dismissed in 2022, but the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has granted Palin a new trial, criticizing the trial judge’s premature dismissal before a jury verdict could be reached. The appellate court highlighted several judicial errors that compromised the trial’s integrity. In response, the Times expressed disappointment but maintained confidence in prevailing during the retrial. Palin’s legal team viewed the decision as a crucial step toward holding media accountable for misleading content and expressed optimism about presenting their case before a jury. This case is being watched closely for its potential implications, particularly concerning the established legal standards for defamation cases involving public figures.
A famous lady from Alaska just got a small — but potentially meaningful — legal win over The Gray Lady.
Former Republican governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin notched a court victory over The New York Times on Wednesday, according to ABC News.
The whole ordeal centers on a defamation case brought by Palin against the Times.
According to Reuters, the issue stems from a 2017 NYT editorial titled “America’s Lethal Politics.”
The outlet noted that the piece “incorrectly linked [Palin] to a 2011 mass shooting that killed six people and seriously wounded Democratic U.S. congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.”
Other outlets similarly blamed the GOP for the Giffords incident.
A political action committee associated with Palin purportedly showed Democrat congressional maps with crosshairs on them, which was then somehow connected to Giffords. One such image included crosshairs on Giffords’ district.
Many have long since agreed that Gifford’s shooter suffered from mental illness.
The defamation case had originally been dismissed in 2022, but as ABC noted, the “Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals faulted the trial judge for dismissing the case before the jury had reached a verdict.”
“Unfortunately, several major issues at trial — specifically, the erroneous exclusion of evidence, an inaccurate jury instruction, a legally erroneous response to a mid-deliberation jury question, and jurors learning during deliberations of the district court’s Rule 50 dismissal ruling — impugn the reliability of that verdict,” Circuit Judge John Walker said of U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan.
Walker’s opinion represented a three-judge panel.
He added: “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.”
In response to that scathing assessment, Times representative Charlie Stadtlander told Reuters, “This decision is disappointing. We’re confident we will prevail in a retrial.”
Team Palin, meanwhile, took an obviously different tack in responding to this development.
“Governor Palin is very happy with today’s decision, which is a significant step forward in the process of holding publishers accountable for content that misleads readers and the public in general,” Shane Vogt, a lawyer for Palin, said in a statement, according to ABC.
He continued: “The truth deserves a level playing field, and Governor Palin looks forward to presenting her case to a jury that is ‘provided with relevant proffered evidence and properly instructed on the law’ as set forth in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ opinion.”
Furthermore, Reuters argued that this decision could have major implications.
The outlet noted: “Media critics, and Palin herself, have viewed the case as a possible vehicle to overturn New York Times v. Sullivan, the landmark 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision that set a high bar for public figures to prove defamation.”
Interestingly, in its own coverage of the ongoing trial, the Times claimed Palin had made “media-bashing part of her rhetoric. Her lawsuit — as well as the 10-day trial in February 2022 — put her toe to toe with one of the country’s most prominent mainstream news organizations.”
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