The trial over Sarah Palin’s defamation suit against The New York Times resumes on Thursday, a week and a half after its start in federal court in Lower Manhattan was delayed because Ms. Palin tested positive for the coronavirus.
Ms. Palin, who is expected to be in the courtroom as jury selection and opening arguments begin, is not vaccinated, according to the judge, Jed S. Rakoff. And she drew headlines for flouting New York City’s requirement that all people dining indoors be vaccinated, after being spotted the weekend before the trial’s original start date dining at an Upper East Side restaurant.
The former governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican nominee for vice president sued The Times in 2017 after the paper published an editorial that incorrectly asserted a link between her political rhetoric and the 2011 mass shooting near Tucson, Ariz., that gravely wounded Gabrielle Giffords, then a Democratic member of Congress. The Times later corrected the editorial.
It is unusual that a libel lawsuit against a news organization by a public official advances to the trial stage. And legal experts have said that the case is a legal test for those who argue that First Amendment protections for the press are too broad and media outlets should pay a steeper price when they get something wrong.
The trial was already likely to garner a fair share of media attention. But the delayed start could make for even more coverage, because another celebrity trial taking place in federal court in Manhattan has entered closing arguments: the criminal case against Michael Avenatti, the lawyer who helped the pornographic actress known as Stormy Daniels sue former President Donald J. Trump but is now accused of wire fraud and identity theft.
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