Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has tested positive for COVID-19.
The diagnosis was revealed Monday, which was supposed to be the first day of Palin’s defamation lawsuit against the New York Times. The start of the trial has now been delayed until Feb. 3.
Judge Jed Rakoff, who is overseeing the trial, disclosed that he had learned about Palin’s two consecutive positive COVID-19 tests before noting, “She is, of course, unvaccinated,” according to New York Law Journal’s Jane Wester.
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I’m covering the Sarah Palin/New York Times trial set to start today in the SDNY. Judge Rakoff says he learned last night that Palin has tested positive for COVID. “She is, of course, unvaccinated,” the judge notes.
— Jane Wester (@janewester) January 24, 2022
Rakoff told the court that he asked Palin to obtain a different test. Her lawyer said that Palin’s next test, a PCR test, would occur later that morning.
Palin’s lawyer said that the 2008 vice presidential candidate was “confused” by the lines on the PCR test and that she walked to a nearby urgent care for a test. There, she tested positive a third time. Rakoff said that he assumes three positive tests are proof of an infection and delayed the trial until Feb. 3 unless she is symptomatic that day.
Palin filed a lawsuit against the New York Times in August in the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit alleges that a 2017 editorial by Elizabeth Williamson defamed her when it linked her to the 2011 deadly shooting that seriously wounded Rep. Gabby Giffords. The editorial asserted a connection between an ad released by Palin’s political action committee and the 2011 shooter. The New York Times amended the editorial within 24 hours, noting that there was no direct connection between the shooting and Palin’s ad.
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Palin has previously expressed opposition to the COVID-19 vaccine. During an appearance at a Turning Point USA conference in December, Palin told the audience that she would get vaccinated “over my dead body.”
Representatives of Sarah Palin did respond to requests for comment from the Washington Examiner.
