Sarah Palin Is Suing the New York Times

Former Alaska governor says paper defamed her by linking her to Gabby Giffords shooting
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 28, 2017 6:03 AM CDT
Sarah Palin Is Suing the New York Times
Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin speaks before presidential candidate Donald Trump's arrival to speak during the opening session of the Western Conservative Summit on July 1, 2016, in Denver.   (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Sarah Palin "took a stand" this week against the New York Times in a lawsuit claiming defamation. CNNMoney reports that the former Alaska governor filed her complaint, which seeks upward of $75,000 in damages, against the Times on Tuesday for an editorial it published right after the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise earlier this month. In the op-ed touching on the viciousness of the current political climate, the Times editorial board had pointed a finger at Palin and cited her as a force of "political incitement" before the 2011 Gabby Giffords shooting in Arizona, claiming that an ad from Palin's PAC had positioned "Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized [crosshairs]," per the lawsuit.

Two days later, the paper added what the New York Post deems an "embarrassing correction"—that no definitive tie had arisen between "political rhetoric" and the Giffords attack, and that the PAC ad had shown electoral districts, not actual Democrats, under the crosshairs. The NYT Opinion account also tweeted a mea culpa for getting "an important fact wrong." The Times itself reports on Palin's suit, which says the paper "violated the law and its own policies" and "knowingly, intentionally, willfully, wantonly and maliciously" published the piece to hurt the "devoted wife, mother, and grandmother," or at the very least exhibited "blatant disregard" for possible harm. The Times says through a rep it will "vigorously" fight the complaint, which it notes it hasn't reviewed yet. (Erik Wemple writes for the Washington Post that he thinks Palin has a solid case.)

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