Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, sued The New York Times Company for libel in 2017.
On Monday, after years of litigation and pandemic delays, Palin is finally expected to take the Times to trial.
The case has become a flashpoint as a zero-sum conflict between self-expression and truth seeking.
Palin originally sued the Times over an editorial that incorrectly linked a 2011 shooting to a television advertisement from Palin’s fundraising organization.
In the editorial, the Times described the advertisement as a video of congressional Democrats in the crosshairs of a gun, and the editorial board blamed this ad for inspiring the shooting of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
In fact, the Times was wrong. The ad only showed a gun taking aim at congressional districts. The Times eventually corrected this error… but not before Palin sued in federal court.
Currently, U.S. law requires public officials to prove “actual malice” when suing a news organization for libel.
The Supreme Court has defined actual malice as “knowledge that ]a statement] was false or… of whether it was false or not.”
Palin and the Times disagree over whether the “actual malice” standard applies in this case. To a lesser extent, they also disagree over whether that standard can still apply at all.
In 2020, one court wrote, “She argued that she is not required to prove actual malice, and prove it by clear and convincing evidence, on the ground that the federal constitutional rule imposing that burden in the case of public figures either is no longer good law or does not apply to this case.”
Palin’s former lawyer, Elizabeth Locke, told the Times, “How do you balance free speech rights with the right to your individual reputation, and in the context of public officials who have volunteered for public service and do need to be held to account?”
It’s been 50 years since the Times has lost a libel case in the U.S.
Speaking about Palin’s case, the Times newsroom said, “Most libel suits against The Times are dismissed before they ever reach a jury, making this case particularly uncommon.”
Palin’s lawsuit has singled out James Bennett, the former “Opinion” editor at the Times.
Until 2016, Bennet was working for The Atlantic, a publication known for debunking the unconfirmed link between Palin and the shooting.
Bennett has built a fraught relationship with both political parties. On one hand, he is the older brother of current U.S. Sen. Mike Bennett, a Colorado Democrat best known for his failed presidential campaign. On the other hand, he resigned from the Times in 2020 amid the blowback over an op-ed by the conservative firebrand Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.
According to Politico, Palin hired the lawyers once employed by the wrestler Hulk Hogan. In 2013, Hogan sued the website Gawker for invasion of privacy, after Gawker published his sex tape. Hogan settled the suit out of court in 2016, and Gawker filed for bankruptcy amid all the legal fees.
Palin has remained unusually quiet ahead of this lawsuit. She did not respond to interview requests from either Politico or the Times.
Palin may testify as soon as Tuesday, with Bennett following soon after.
The Horn editorial team