NEW YORK—Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s defamation trial against The New York Times commenced in federal court in lower Manhattan on Feb. 3. Palin brought the lawsuit against the newspaper after its editorial board published an editorial about her, which she deemed defamatory. The genesis of the editorial dates back to 2011 when on Jan. 8, Jared Loughner opened fire at a political rally for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat, in Tucson, Arizona, killing six people and injuring 13. Rep. Giffords was seriously wounded. Prior to the attack, Palin’s political action committee (SarahPAC) had circulated a map that superimposed the image of a crosshairs-target over certain Democrat congressional districts. Giffords’ was one. In the wake of the Loughner shooting some speculated that the shooting was connected to the crosshairs map. No evidence ever emerged to establish that link. The criminal investigation of Loughner indicated that his animosity toward Representative Giffords …