Sarah Palin Suffers Major Legal Blow

Sarah Palin was just hit with a serious L in the legal department. The controversial politician hit the headlines from August 2020 over a serious legal case, as she took on The New York Times by suing the prestigious publication for libel, per Politico.

As for why? The republican former Governor of Alaska — who went up against former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden alongside the late John McCain in the 2008 U.S. election — alleged that a 2017 article claimed that her political action committee may have contributed to politician Gabrielle Giffords being shot in 2011. It suggested they distributed a map that "showed 20 targeted electoral districts held by Democrats."

The first version of The New York Times article incorrectly claimed it was "clear" there was a link, though that terminology was corrected. The journalist who wrote it took responsibility for the error and the case was thrown out, but it was then brought back to court in 2019 after it was claimed the terminology "violated Palin's rights under federal court rules to pursue evidence and testimony about the episode before a definitive ruling on her suit," according to Politico.

But things then took another turn in February 2022 — and not the kind of turn Palin was hoping for.

Bad news for Sarah Palin, as her libel case against The New York Times was once again thrown out of court, and this time it was most definitely not in her favor. A judge ruled on February 14 that the case would be dismissed because her lawyers did not produce sufficient evidence. "I think this [was] an example of very unfortunate editorializing on the part of the Times," Judge Jed Rakoff said of the case via CNN. "The law here sets a very high standard [for actual malice]. The court finds that that standard has not been met."

The decision came after Palin claimed on February 11 that she felt "powerless" after reading the original story while taking to the witness stand. "It's hard to lay your head on a pillow and have a restful night when you know that lies are told about you, a specific lie that was not going to be fixed. That causes some stress anyone would feel," she said, via Reuters.

But it's not just been the case itself that has had Palin in the headlines. The star also had people talking for appearing at the courthouse alongside NHL star Ron Duguay, as he supported her amid her case. All that support had people speculating the twosome's relationship could be romantic, with Duguay himself revealing if he and Palin are boyfriend and girlfriend.