The author of a New York Times editorial will have to testify under oath in a defamation lawsuit filed by the former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.
The Times filed a motion last month seeking to dismiss the case, and the judge, Jed S. Rakoff of Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York, said the testimony was necessary to help him determine whether to grant that motion. Judge Rakoff set the hearing for Aug. 16. Judge Rakoff said last month that he would rule by the end of this month on the motion to dismiss the case.
A spokeswoman for The Times said in a statement that the news organization would provide the testimony the judge had ordered. David McCraw, deputy general counsel for The Times, said the witness would be James Bennet, The Times’s editorial page editor.
As you may remember Palin was blocked from bringing in almost two dozen New York Times reporters by the judge in this case, and instead only the journalist who wrote the op-ed will show up to testify.
There is of course a strong chance that once this individual explains the thinking that went into the piece, and points out that the portion Palin objects to was later retracted, that the judge will go ahead and throw the case out completely.
Personally I hope that the paper counter sues Palin since she is clearly being used as a conservative canary in the coal mine trying to find a chink in the Times' armor so that others can follow after and also file suits against the paper which has caused their president so much grief.We're sorry about this and we appreciate that our readers called us on the mistake. We've corrected the editorial. https://t.co/t1FZ3iEYQJ http://pic.twitter.com/k7WW5uJIQO— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) June 15, 2017
Remember Palin has not spent one minute in this courtroom, and I believe that if she were subpoenaed by the Times she would quickly fall apart under cross examination and the Times' might quickly learn who is bankrolling this bullshit.
That seems like something which would be in the public's best interest to report.
Source http://ift.tt/2vXa2KE
