According to the judge, there was no question of “actual malice”. An op-ed in The New York Times in 2017 hinted at a link between Palin and the 2011 shooting that left six people dead. A pamphlet by an activist group campaigning for Palin depicted Democratic congressmen with a target shooting target. The article suggests that the pamphlet may have inspired the shooter’s actions. The newspaper had already distanced itself from that statement after the article was published, but Palin was not satisfied with this explanation and continued the case against the newspaper.
She ran in 2008 alongside presidential candidate John McCain, who lost to Democrat Barack Obama.