By Jonathan Stempel, An Phung

A judge on Monday delayed Sarah Palin's defamation trial against The New York Times by 10 days to February 3, after the 2008 Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor tested positive for the coronavirus.

The delay was announced by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan at a hearing.

Rakoff first announced that Palin had tested positive earlier Monday morning. "She is, of course, unvaccinated," Rakoff said then.

Palin sued the paper in 2017 over an editorial that incorrectly linked the 2011 shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords to a map circulated by Palin's political action committee that showed certain electoral districts under crosshairs. The Times corrected the error and apologized for it, and a judge initially dismissed the case. But a federal appeals court revived it and, as a result, a trial will now take place.

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