Tue Apr 22 20:10:00 UTC 2025: ## Palin Loses Defamation Case Against New York Times: Jury Rejects Claim for Second Time
**New York, NY** – A federal jury has again ruled against Sarah Palin in her long-running defamation lawsuit against The New York Times. After two hours of deliberation, the jury rejected Palin’s claim that a 2017 editorial, which the Times later corrected and apologized for, had defamed her.
The case, which stemmed from an editorial incorrectly linking Palin to a 2011 mass shooting, has been a significant test of press freedoms and media liability. Palin’s lawyers had hoped to challenge a Supreme Court precedent that protects news organizations from defamation suits by public figures.
This marks the second time a jury has sided with the New York Times. A 2022 trial resulted in a similar verdict, but a federal appeals court overturned that decision, leading to this retrial.
Following the verdict, Palin stated her intention to “go home to a beautiful family” and “get on with life,” but declined to comment on whether she would appeal the decision. A spokesperson for The New York Times hailed the verdict as a reaffirmation of the principle that publishers are not liable for honest mistakes.
The original editorial, published in the wake of a shooting at a congressional baseball practice, wrongly suggested Palin’s political action committee’s map, featuring rifle crosshairs over Democratic districts, incited violence. The Times swiftly corrected the error and apologized, but Palin argued the correction was insufficient and that the editorial had severely damaged her reputation. The jury, however, disagreed. The future of the eight-year legal battle remains uncertain pending a potential appeal from Palin’s legal team.
First Piper 