Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin lost a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times after the outlet blamed her for the horrible 2011 shooting targeting a Democratic congresswoman.
Palin mounted the lawsuit against the Times after they published a 2017 editorial that falsely linked a political ad created by her PAC with several congressional districts under gun crosshairs, with the horrendous mass shooting at a Gabby Giffords public event.
‘Please keep fighting for integrity in media. I’ll keep asking the press to quit making things up.’
The crazed gunman was identified as Jared Lee Loughner, who had been diagnosed with mental illness and had become obsessed with then-congresswoman Giffords long before the political ad was circulated.
The connection was dubious, and the Times was immediately assailed by critics online, many of whom were on the left, before issuing a correction. Palin filed her lawsuit later that month.
The lawsuit was initially tossed out by a Clinton-appointed judge in 2017, but was revived by an appellate court. That same judge then dismissed the lawsuit in 2022 because no jury would find the Times had acted with malice, according to the judge.
An appellate court allowed Palin a third time to take the Times to court, but on Tuesday, a jury agreed that the high standard of malice had not been met.
The jury only deliberated for two hours before delivering the verdict.
Palin asked her supporters to continue fighting in a statement on social media.
“We didn’t prevail in federal court against the New York Times. But please keep fighting for integrity in media. I’ll keep asking the press to quit making things up,” she wrote.
“Meanwhile … I get to go home to the 5 best kids a mom could ever hope for & a quiver full of perfect grandbabies,” she added.
Giffords retired from Congress in 2012 and became a gun control advocate before undergoing years of rehabilitation from the injuries she received. Her husband, Mark Kelly, became a U.S. senator for Arizona.
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