New York Times found not liable in Palin defamation case

A jury found The New York Times not liable after the news organization was sued by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) over an editorial it published linking her to a mass shooting in 2011. 

The jury’s decision Tuesday, which was unanimous, came a day after the judge in the case indicated he would dismiss the lawsuit against the newspaper, saying Palin’s attorneys produced a lack of evidence to suggest the news organization acted recklessly or knowingly published false material about her. 

“I think this [was] an example of very unfortunate editorializing on the part of The Times,” U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff said in court on Monday. “The law here sets a very high standard [for actual malice]. The court finds that that standard has not been met.”

Palin’s lawyers argued during the trial that The Times and James Bennet, then the editorial page editor at the newspaper, acted with “actual malice” against the former governor when they published an editorial linking her to the deadly 2011 shooting in an Arizona parking lot of then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

The jury’s verdict in the civil case ruled against Palin’s claims of libel.

“The New York Times welcomes today’s decision,” a spokesperson for the newspaper said after Rakoff indicated he would move to dismiss the case as the jury was still deliberating. “It is a reaffirmation of a fundamental tenet of American law: public figures should not be permitted to use libel suits to punish or intimidate news organizations that make, acknowledge and swiftly correct unintentional errors.”

After publication, The Times later corrected the inaccuracies in the initial editorial, noting a previous version had “incorrectly stated that a link existed between political rhetoric and the 2011 shooting.”

On the witness stand last week, Palin described a feeling of being “powerless” after the editorial’s publication.

“It was devastating to read, again, an accusation, a false accusation that I had anything to do with murder, murdering innocent people,” Palin said.

The case was widely seen by observers as a major test of press freedoms and the high standard for defamation cases against public figures.

Palin’s lawyers are expected to file an appeal, a likelihood Rakoff cited as he explained his decision to dismiss the case as the jury continued to deliberate, saying that “the court of appeals will greatly benefit from knowing how the jury decided.”

The Times has not lost not lost a libel case in an American courtroom in at least 50 years, the newspaper noted.

Updated 3:15 p.m.