Samantha S. Barbas, a law professor at the University of Iowa and the author of a book about the Sullivan case, “Actual Malice,” said Ms. Palin’s loss would “fuel the momentum to overturn the New York Times v. Sullivan standard as it applies to public figures” because it showed how hard it was for plaintiffs to clear the actual malice threshold.

A Manhattan jury has found that the New York Times is not liable for allegedly defaming ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in an editorial piece it published in 2017. The verdict marks the second loss for Palin in her quest against the newspaper over the editorial,