Whether the New York Times was reckless in Sarah Palin’s libel case is an interesting legal question. But whether Judge Jed Rakoff was reckless in Sarah Palin’s libel case is no question at all: He clearly was.
A nine-person jury found in favor of the Times after a short trial in Manhattan federal court last week, but not before Judge Rakoff’s mind-boggling decision to announce, while the jury was deliberating, that he was throwing out the former Alaska governor’s case. Predictably, several jurors learned about Rakoff’s ruling before the jury reached a verdict that echoed the ruling. The appellate courts should nullify the verdict, but that would not necessarily translate into victory for Palin. As we shall see, while Rakoff’s handling of the jury was appalling, he may well be right that the Supreme Court’s controlling precedents favor the Times.
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