Judge to dismiss Palin’s libel suit against New York Times

By TOM HAYS
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge says he’ll dismiss a libel lawsuit that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin filed against The New York Times. The judge made the announcement while a jury continued to deliberate the Republican’s claim that the newspaper maliciously damaged her reputation with an editorial linking her campaign rhetoric to a mass shooting. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff says he’ll let jury deliberations continue in case his decision winds up being reversed on appeal. The Times acknowledged that the 2017 editorial had wrongly suggested Palin’s political action committee helped inspire a 2011 Arizona shooting that killed six and severely wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords. But the paper said the mistake wasn’t intentional.