Lawyers representing the Covington Catholic boys have sent letters to media and celebrities in a first step to libel and slander cases.

Nick Sandmann and Nathan Phillipps. USA Today/AP.

Lawyers representing the Covington Catholic school boys, including Nick Sandmann, have sent letters to news organizations, celebrities and Catholic dioceses as a first step for possible slander and defamation cases. USA Today. Sandmann and the other boys were seen in a viral clip that showed a confrontration between them and an American Indian activist named Nathan Philips. The media, Catholic dioceses and celebrities all falsely portrayed the boys as racist and did not show the full context of the incident where it was discovered that Philips approached them, some of his group said racist things and the presence of the Black Hebrew Israelites, a racist group of black nationalists who were harassing the boys. The letter warned the groups mentioned to preserve documents. The students will be demanding retractions and apologies and may sue all or some of the organizations and individuals mentioned. More letters are expected to be sent. 

Breitbart has a list of the individuals and organizations that received letter which I will reproduce below. 

The Washington Post
The New York Times
Cable News Network, Inc. (CNN)
The Guardian
National Public Radio
TMZ
Atlantic Media Inc.
Capitol Hill Publishing Corp.
Diocese of Covington
Diocese of Lexington
Archdiocese of Louisville
Diocese of Baltimore
Ana Cabrera
Sara Sidner
Erin Burnett
S.E. Cupp
Elliot C. McLaughlin
Amanda Watts
Emanuella Grinberg
Michelle Boorstein
Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
Antonio Olivo
Joe Heim
Michael E. Miller
Eli Rosenberg
Isaac Stanley-Becker
Kristine Phillips
Sarah Mervosh
Emily S. Rueb
Maggie Haberman
David Brooks
Shannon Doyne
Kurt Eichenwald
Andrea Mitchell
Savannah Guthrie
Joy Reid
Chuck Todd
Noah Berlatsky
Elisha Fieldstadt
Eun Kyung Kim
HBO
Bill Maher
Warner Media
Conde Nast
GQ
Heavy.com
The Hill
The Atlantic
Bustle.com
Ilhan Omar
Elizabeth Warren
Kathy Griffin
Alyssa Milano
Jim Carrey

My Comment:
This story disappeared rather quickly, largely due to other incidents, most notably the governor of Virginia's multiple controversies. Thankfully, the boys themselves haven't forgotten and their lawyers are working overtime.

What happened to these boys was unforgivable. Not only were they falsely claimed to be racist, they were actually the victims of racism and harassment. And they did not harass Nathan Philips, he approached and bothered them. The narrative that was created about them was almost completely false. All they did was stand there doing school spirit chants, wear MAGA hat and smirk.

None of those things were wrong in anyway. But what did the media and these celebrities do? They spread a lie about them without even doing the most basic fact checking. They rang in on a story that they didn't have a clue about and the lie made it around the world before the truth rang out. The truth is that had they taken even the most basic of journalistic standards the media outlets would not have published this story. Even if the accusations against the boys were true, which they weren't, it wasn't newsworthy in anyway.

Some of the celebrities in this case did even worse things. In addition to lying about them being racist, they also tried to dox the young men. They wanted their names and called for harassment for them. This is, of course, a crime. And many of those young men were successfully doxed, harassed and libeled. Kathy Griffen was the worst, but was by no means the only one to do this.

This means that these boys have a pretty solid case for libel, slander and/or defamation. Though America's 1st amendment makes libel cases hard to win, the fact that these boys were both not public figures and that they were underage, it gives them a good chance of winning. It was very clear that there was malicious intent from many of these journalists and celebrities.

They also have a very friendly jury pool to work with. The people of Kentucky will be on the sides of these boys as they are their state's sons and Kentucky is a deep red state that hates the people that did this under the best of circumstances. Even if they can find an objective jury, I doubt they will find anyone that will think that these people shouldn't be sent a message.

I do expect that the lawyers for many of these people and organizations will likely settle. They know that their clients are in the wrong and that they will likely lose any case. A small settlement and retraction/apology now will save millions of dollars in legal fees and judgement. I expect the news organizations and the Catholic dioceses to settle very quickly.

I am not so sure about the celebrities though. Some of them, like Kathy Griffen and Jim Carrey, seem to be mentally ill, even beyond typical Trump Derangement Syndrome. And even if they are of a sound mind, they are celebrities. They are used to getting there own way. I mean Griffen was so over the top that the secret service had to interview her. That didn't change her behavior at all and I think there is a good chance that she and some of the other celebs will be so stubborn that they will try and fight this even though they were completely in the wrong.

I do think that the best thing that can happen in this situation is that many of these people and organizations get sued and lose a lot of money. Their behavior in this case was reprehensible and they desperately need to understand that there are consequences for harassing people, even if they support President Trump.