Next Step for Palin Is To Appeal Times Verdict

The decision comes a day after Judge Jed Rakoff, who presided over the case, announced from the bench that he would dismiss the case in the event the jury found for Palin.

AP/Seth Wenig, file
Governor Palin leaves a New York courthouse on February 14, 2022. AP/Seth Wenig, file

The stage is set for Governor Palin’s appeal. 

That possibility moved closer to probability as a jury on Tuesday found the New York Times not liable in a defamation case that pitted the vice presidential candidate against the Gray Lady. 

The decision comes a day after Judge Jed Rakoff, who presided over the case, announced from the bench that he would dismiss the case in the event the jury found for Ms. Palin.

That did not happen. Instead, judge and jury arrived at the same conclusion. Immediately after the verdict was announced, Judge Rakoff told the jury, “Your job is to decide the fact, mine is to decide the law. We have reached the same bottom line, on different grounds.” 

Judge Rakoff cited Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50, which allows for a judge to dismiss a case if “a reasonable jury would not have a legally sufficient evidentiary basis to find for the party on that issue.”

The Times had asked for just such a dismissal on Friday, only to have it denied. 

By Monday, Judge Rakoff had reconsidered, with the Washington Post reporting that he said, “the more I thought about it over the weekend,” the more certain he was that he was going to find for the Times. 

All eyes now move to the possibility for appeal. Judge Rakoff indicated that the likelihood of Ms. Palin taking such a step was one of the reasons why he let the jury deliberate to a verdict.

“This is the kind of case that inevitably goes up on appeal,” Judge Rakoff said, adding: “The Court of Appeals, I think, will greatly benefit from knowing how the jury will decide.” 

If Ms. Palin does decide to appeal, the decision of Judge Rakoff and the jury will be evaluated by the riders of the Second Circuit under divergent standards. The judicial dismissal, as a question of law, is considered “de novo.” 

This means that the appeals court would give no weight to Judge Rakoff’s conclusion that Ms. Palin did not meet the standard for “actual malice,” and would decide the matter for itself with no preconceptions. 

The jury’s finding that the Times was not liable will be reviewed under a more stringent standard. Under an approach more deferential to the jury’s verdict, the appeals court would only hand victory to Ms. Palin if it evaluated that this verdict was “clearly erroneous.

While Judge Rakoff has already been reversed once in this litigation, which allowed for Ms. Palin to have her day in court, her path forward is now much more arduous.

However, should she eventually make it to the Supreme Court, Ms. Palin might find several sympathetic ears, as Justices Thomas and Gorsuch have expressed support for revising the high bar for libel that Governor Palin has yet to clear. 


The New York Sun

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