Sarah Palin Diagnosed With COVID Before New York Times Lawsuit Trial

January 24, 2022 by Tom Ramstack
Sarah Palin Diagnosed With COVID Before New York Times Lawsuit Trial
Sarah Palin speaking on Sept. 24, 2021 (Facebook)

NEW YORK — Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin was diagnosed with COVID-19 this weekend, which delayed her defamation lawsuit against The New York Times that was scheduled for a trial beginning Monday.

Palin reported her illness to Judge Jed Rakoff of the U.S. District Court in New York on Sunday. The judge said Palin was unvaccinated.

Jury selection was scheduled to begin Monday but now has been rescheduled to Feb. 3.

The trial is again testing the limits of fair comment by the news media in its criticisms of political leaders.

Palin accuses The New York Times of defaming her in a 2017 editorial that implied one of her political ads incited a 2011 mass shooting in Arizona. Six people were killed by the apparently deranged gunman. U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords was seriously injured by a bullet to her head.

The ad from Palin’s Republican political action committee displayed stylized gun crosshairs over 20 congressional districts held by Democrats, including Giffords’.

The newspaper editorial ran shortly after another shooting during a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia. A gunman shot and seriously injured Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La.

While tensions ran high about assassination attempts against lawmakers, the editorial noted that “the link to political incitement was clear” between the map circulated by Palin’s political action committee and the 2011 shooting in Arizona.

The New York Times later retracted any implication Palin’s political rhetoric led to the 2011 Arizona shootings. Editorial page editor James Bennet said he never intended to blame Palin.

Nevertheless, Palin said Bennet had enough experience to know that his words were defamatory.

Her lawsuit was dismissed in 2017 by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Rakoff wrote in his order of dismissal that Palin failed to prove the editorial demonstrated the malice needed to defame a public figure.

“Negligence this may be; but defamation of a public figure it plainly is not,” Rakoff wrote.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the lawsuit and sent it back to Rakoff for a jury trial, which was originally expected to last all of this week.

Palin, 57, was diagnosed with COVID-19 using an at-home test. Last March, she contracted the disease for the first time.

She told a conservative group of her supporters last month that she would get a COVID-19 vaccination “over my dead body.”

Palin is a former governor of Alaska who resigned to run unsuccessfully for vice president along with presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona in 2008. She said last August she was considering a run for the U.S. Senate.

Tom can be reached at [email protected]

A+
a-
  • COVID-19
  • defamation
  • lawsuit
  • NY Times
  • Sarah Palin
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Litigation

    March 28, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    Disney World Settles with Florida After Its Opposition to 'Don’t Say Gay' Law

    ORLANDO — The company that runs Walt Disney World reached a settlement Wednesday with appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis... Read More

    ORLANDO — The company that runs Walt Disney World reached a settlement Wednesday with appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who were exerting controversial regulatory control over the huge tourism complex. The settlement resolves some of the disputes that arose after Disney officials publicly denounced the... Read More

    March 14, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    Jewish Group Sues UN Relief Agency Saying It Supports Hamas Terrorism

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Jewish advocacy group sued a United Nations relief agency Wednesday in Delaware for allegedly helping Hamas... Read More

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Jewish advocacy group sued a United Nations relief agency Wednesday in Delaware for allegedly helping Hamas in its war with Israel and the murders of Israelis and Americans. The National Jewish Advocacy Center says U.N. relief workers who were supposed to be... Read More

    New York AG Says She’ll Seize Trump’s Property if He Can’t Pay $454M Civil Fraud Debt

    NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump could be at risk of losing some of his prized properties if he can’t... Read More

    NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump could be at risk of losing some of his prized properties if he can’t pay his staggering New York civil fraud penalty. With interest, he owes the state nearly $454 million — and the amount is going up $87,502 each day until... Read More

    February 16, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    Environmentalists Sue EPA for Data on Health Risks of Forever Chemicals

    WASHINGTON — Environmentalists sued the Environmental Protection Agency this week in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking information about health... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Environmentalists sued the Environmental Protection Agency this week in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeking information about health risks from forever chemicals in fluorinated plastic containers. The two groups that sued accuse the EPA of withholding information about PFAS. They are called forever chemicals... Read More

    February 6, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    DC Appellate Court Rejects Trump's Immunity Claim

    WASHINGTON — A court of appeals in the District of Columbia has rejected former President Donald Trump’s claim that he... Read More

    WASHINGTON — A court of appeals in the District of Columbia has rejected former President Donald Trump’s claim that he is immune from prosecution for allegedly interfering in the 2020 presidential election. In a unanimous, 57-page ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of... Read More

    February 1, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    Trump Lawsuit Over Steele Dossier Dismissed by Judge in London

    LONDON, U.K. — A judge in London dismissed a lawsuit Thursday that former President Donald Trump filed against the British... Read More

    LONDON, U.K. — A judge in London dismissed a lawsuit Thursday that former President Donald Trump filed against the British intelligence agent who wrote the "Steele Dossier" describing his questionable links to the Russian government. Trump’s lawsuit called the accusations lies that hurt his reputation. Judge... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top