Sarah Palin’s Libel Lawsuit Against The New York Times Set for Trial on April 14, 2025.
A federal judge in New York has set a trial date for April 14, 2025, in the libel case filed by Sarah Palin, 60, a politician and Republican vice presidential nominee, against The New York Times. The trial will proceed despite requests from both parties for a delay until July, in hopes of reaching a settlement outside of court. Judge Jed Rakoff, overseeing the case, dismissed these requests and emphasized that the trial would not require extensive preparation, as it is a retrial.
The case stems from a 2017 editorial published by The New York Times, which linked Sarah Palin to the 2011 mass shooting that injured former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people. The editorial incorrectly implied that Mrs. Palin’s political action committee had incited the shooting by using a map with crosshairs over Democratic congressional districts. Despite the lack of evidence linking the map to the shooting, the editorial suggested Sarah Palin's rhetoric played a role.
Mrs. Palin’s legal team has long maintained that the editorial was defamatory and that The New York Times acted with actual malice in publishing the article. A federal appeals court allowed the lawsuit to proceed, overturning an earlier decision that ruled in favor of the newspaper.
The appellate court pointed out that Judge Rakoff had made errors in the original trial, particularly by excluding evidence related to former New York Times editorial board head, James Bennet. Sarah Palin’s legal team argues that this evidence could help demonstrate the newspaper acted maliciously.
The trial date comes after multiple legal battles, including a 2019 decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that revived the case, and a 2022 trial where the jury initially ruled in favor of the Times. Judge Rakoff had granted a directed verdict, dismissing the case before the jury had delivered its final verdict, which led to an appeal by Palin’s team.
Despite the judge's decision to move forward with the trial, both Palin’s legal representative, Ken Turkel, and the New York Times' attorney David Axelrod expressed interest in mediation and settlement discussions. Judge Rakoff remarked that if both parties were genuinely interested in settling, it could be done swiftly and without delay. He also noted that mediation could be arranged with a magistrate at short notice.
The 2017 editorial that sparked the lawsuit, titled "America's Lethal Politics," was published in the aftermath of the shooting. It incorrectly tied the shooting to the crosshairs map released by Sarah Palin’s political action committee in 2010, despite no evidence showing the map had any connection to the incident. At the time of the shooting, mental health issues were believed to be the primary cause.
