Topics: Coronavirus, US News
American politician and former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin has tested positive for coronavirus today, January 24.
The test result marks the second time Palin has contracted the virus, after she first caught it in March 2021.
The 57-year-old has previously spoken out against the coronavirus vaccine, stating that she would only get it 'over her dead body,' and that people should simply 'stiffen their spines'.
According to Jane Wester, a reporter for New York Law Journal, Palin was 'confused' by her coronavirus test results and so took a total of three tests. However, it was determined by Judge Rakoff after 'three positive antigen tests' that the politician indeed had the virus.
As a result of Palin testing positive, the politician's ongoing defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, which was set to go to federal trial today, has now reportedly been delayed.
In 2017, Palin launched a legal battle against the newspaper over an opinion piece written by a member of its editorial team, The Sun reports.
Palin claimed the article suggested that her political speeches had fuelled a shooting that took place in 2001, which saw the previous US representative of Arizona, Gabby Giffords, severely wounded and six others killed at a Congressional baseball team practice in Washington.
The article reportedly insinuated that a map released by Palin's political action committee had put Giffords and 19 other Democrats in danger, by placing them in the path of a shooter who had a history of anti-GOP activity.
The Times responded by admitting that the wording of the article was flawed, and two days later corrected the piece to note the editorial had 'incorrectly stated that a link existed between political rhetoric and the 2011 shooting,' and that the author had 'incorrectly described' a map of electoral districts which had been distributed by Palin's committee. However, the paper maintained that the article did not constitute defamation.
Palin's case against the paper was initially dismissed, however in 2019, the politician appealed and the decision was reversed.
The trial will subsequently decide whether the author of the initial article, James Bennet, who was previously an editor for The Times, wrote the piece with 'actual malice' or 'reckless disregard' for the truth.
Bennet stated that at the time of publishing the piece he had believed the information to be accurate, however, the editor noted the pressures he faced because of the article's deadline.
The editor admitted that such time pressures resulted in facts about Palin's political action committee not being checked personally by him before the piece's final approval.
Reportedly, trial has subsequently been delayed until February 3, unless the politician is 'symptomatic on that date'.
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