Sarah Palin, New York Times set to face off in defamation case next month

A Times editorial in 2017 made a link between an ad put out by Palin’s PAC and the shooting of former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords

Sarah Palin’s defamation lawsuit against the New York Times will go to trial in Manhattan on Feb. 1, according to reports.

The case is connected to a 2017 editorial in which a writer linked a Palin political action committee ad about repealing Obamacare – which showed crosshairs on a map of Democratic congressional districts – to the 2011 shooting of then-U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords.

The Times piece was edited and corrected the day after it was published to clarify there was no known link between the shooter and Palin’s ad.

Public figures have a higher burden of proof in defamation cases, but in 2020, Manhattan District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff said there was “sufficient evidence to allow a rational finder of fact to find actual malice by clear and convincing evidence” and said the lawsuit could go to trial. Rakoff had initially dismissed the claim before an appeal, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

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