Judge Jed Rakoff said the editorial in question had a few factual inaccuracies that were rapidly corrected and did not amount to defamation

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A federal judge has thrown out a defamation lawsuit that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin brought against the New York Times over an editorial.

Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said Tuesday there were a few factual inaccuracies somewhat pertaining to Palin that were rapidly corrected. He says it may have been negligent, but was plainly not defamation of a public figure.

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The editorial, titled “America’s Lethal Politics”, was published in June after a gunman opened fire on Republican lawmakers in Virginia, wounding congressman Steve Scalise.

The piece originally accused a Palin GOP political action committee of distributing a map depicting Democratic lawmakers beneath crosshairs before the 2011 shooting of Democratic congresswoman Gabby Giffords.

The newspaper issued a correction noting that the map actually showed electoral districts, not people, in crosshairs, and James Bennet, the editor of the New York Times editorial page, testified: “I did not intend and was not thinking of it as a causal link to the crime.”