I imagine a lawsuit would not even start until after the election.
If she is considered a public figure under the law like Palin, Rush, Obama are, then it's pretty hard to sue for slander under the law.
It would be hard to win, since sane people would realize that Rush has done a lot of "offensive satire" in his career. But the object would not be to win in court, but to damage the conservative cause in the court of public opinion.
It seems to me that the Left is adept at judge shopping. And she is a law student. How convenient.
She's not. She's not 'pervasively' in the news and public eye, so she's not a public figure under Times v. Sullivan.
The question is whether she's a limited public figure. It's true that she thrust herself into the spotlight on this issue, but was she really a public figure when she ended her presentation? How many people here knew who she was by name when she ended her presentation and before Limbaugh opened his mouth?
Federal law's clear that any of the notoriety she got as a result of Limbaugh's comments can't be used in determining whether she was a limited public figure for purposes of figuring out whether Limbaugh defamed her. You have to look at whether the public generally knew who she was before Limbaugh said anything about her.
I doubt one person out of 1,000 could have identified her, even after she finished speaking. And I mean as "oh, she's the lady who spoke about contraception before Congress" (well, the Democrats in a face proceeding).