Judge tosses Sarah Palin’s defamation lawsuit against the New York Times

A judge on Monday said he will toss out Sarah Palin’s defamation lawsuit against the New York times over an opinion story she claims damaged her reputation.

Palin sued The Times and its former editorial page editor, James Bennet, in 2017 over an article titled “America’s Lethal Politics,” which incorrectly connected Palin to a mass shooting in 2011.

Judge Jed Rakoff said he would dismiss the complaint because Palin’s arguments did not meet the threshold of “actual malice” in her allegations.

“I’m not altogether happy to have to make this decision on behalf of the defendant. I’m troubled by the fact that the erroneous edits made by Mr. Bennet reasonably could be read by many readers as an accusation that Ms. Palin’s PAC’s distribution of the crosshairs map was clearly and directly linked to the Loughner shooting … ” said the judge.

The judge said he would wait until the jury reaches a verdict before he tosses the suit. However, an appeal at a higher court would be “inevitable,” he added.