Sarah Palin is suing the New York Times over an editorial that linked her to the 2011 shooting of then-Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords.
Palin filed the lawsuit Tuesday in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
“Mrs. Palin brings this action to hold The Times accountable for defaming her by publishing a statement that it knew to be false,” the lawsuit alleges.
The original version of the Times editorial, which focused on the shooting this month at a congressional Republican baseball practice, said “the link to political incitement was clear” in the Giffords shooting. It noted that Palin’s political action committee had “circulated a map of targeted electoral districts that put Ms. Giffords … under stylized crosshairs.”
But evidence has suggested that Jared Loughner, the shooter, was a longtime critic of Giffords and government in general.
The Times later issued a correction to its editorial.
“An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly stated that a link existed between political incitement and the 2011 shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords,” the Times said. “In fact, no such link was established.”
