A US court on Wednesday revived former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s libel claim against The New York Times in which she alleges the newspaper intentionally defamed her in a 2017 editorial.
The United States Court of Appeals overturned a decision by a lower court that threw out the case, and ordered a new trial, according to a judicial filing.
In a 2017 editorial, The New York Times linked a 2011 shooting in Arizona that wounded lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others with an ad run by Palin’s political action committee.
The ad, which ran shortly before the attack, showed Gifford’s congressional district in the crosshairs of a firearm.
The Times corrected the editorial the next day, saying there was nothing that could demonstrate that the perpetrator had been driven to act by the controversial ad.
Palin subsequently brought the lawsuit claiming that her character had been defamed by the editorial.
“We vacate both the district court’s… judgment and the jury’s verdict and remand the case to the district court for further proceedings, including a new trial,” the appeal court said Wednesday.
In 2022, a New York jury ruled in the newspaper’s favor a day after the judge presiding over the case said he would dismiss the lawsuit irrespective of their verdict.
The New York Times said it was confident it would win at the retrial.
“This decision is disappointing. We’re confident we will prevail in a retrial,” said Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesman for the newspaper.
The bar to prove defamation in the United States is high, due to a landmark 1964 Supreme Court ruling known as The New York Times v. Sullivan.
A plaintiff needs to show that the defendant intended to cause harm. It is not sufficient to demonstrate that an error was made.
The ruling shields journalists from liability if they make unintentional errors.
The original civil trial was viewed by legal experts as a test case for the US Constitution’s First Amendment, which protects free speech and journalistic freedom of expression.
Palin, a former governor of Alaska, was Republican candidate John McCain’s running mate during his 2008 election defeat to Barack Obama.
