Discover Top American-Made Products!
Support local craftsmanship with these high-quality, American-made items—shop now on Amazon!
Shop NowA U.S. judge gave the go-ahead for Sarah Palin to continue her lawsuit against the lying New York Times to proceed.
Judge Lets Lawsuit Proceed
Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, said it should be left to a jury to decide if editorial page editor James Bennet acted with “actual malice” when he wrote that Palin was guilty of “political incitement” that caused the 2011 Tuscan, Arizona mass shooting.
Humbled and thankful. https://t.co/iPHMchWBhv
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) August 29, 2020
In June 2017, a Democrat gunman went on a mass shooting spree and targeted GOP Congress members at their baseball practice. The New York Times published its hit piece against Palin shortly after this incident.
lThe Times wrote:
“Was this attack evidence of how vicious American politics has become? Probably. In 2011, when Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a supermarket parking lot, grievously wounding Representative Gabby Giffords and killing six people, including a 9-year-old girl, the link to political incitement was clear. Before the shooting, Sarah Palin’s political action committee circulated a map of targeted electoral districts that put Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized cross hairs.”
Palin Fights Fake News
The news giant eventually issued a correction, but Palin pursued a lawsuit.
Rakoff decided against Palin and her legal team’s argument that the high “actual malice” standing for public figures should not be applied. They also argued that the Times is liable regardless of intent if there were readers who could interpret Palin’s falsely depicted actions as defamatory.
However, the judge decided it would be most appropriate to let a jury decide the fate of the matter.
Jury Will Decide Fate
“[T]aken in the light most favorable to plaintiff [Palin], the evidence shows Bennet came up with an angle for the Editorial, ignored the articles brought to his attention that were inconsistent with his angle, disregarded the results … [of] research that he commissioned, and ultimately made the point he set out to make in reckless disregard of the truth[.]”
The power now shifts to the jury’s hands to decide whether New York Time’s smears against Palin will be punished or not.
