Former-student involved in viral clash at Lincoln Memorial loses five of eight defamation cases against news outlets

A confrontation among a group of white high school boys, Black religious militants, and a Native American activist in front of the Lincoln Memorial, underscored by racial and ideological tensions, was caught on video and went viral in January 2019. Release of further footage contextualized the incident but also muddled blame, creating a microcosmic culture war in the online reactions to the event. The then-16-year-old at the center of the encounter sued eight news outlets for defamation and libel over their coverage of his role in the incident, losing five of the cases, and settling three.

Key Players

Nick Sandmann was a junior at Covington Catholic High School, an all-boys private school in Covington, Kentucky, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. Sandmann and other Covington Catholic students traveled to Washington, D.C., in January 2019 to participate in the anti-abortion March for Life. He now attends Transylvania University, a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Kentucky, according to his Twitter bio.

Nathan Phillips is an Omaha tribal elder and Native American activist. The Omaha reservation is located mostly in northeastern Nebraska, with parts in western Iowa. Phillips was at the Lincoln Memorial on the day of the encounter for a rally supporting Native American and indigenous people’s rights.

The Hebrew Israelites are a movement of Black Americans who believe they are descended from the 12 ancient tribes of Israel, according to CNN. Such groups were established in the early 20th century across the United States. Emphasizing their ancestral connections rather than their religion, members of the movement generally do not identify as Jewish.

Further Details

On Jan. 19, 2019, a video surfaced showing Sandmann engaging Phillips at the Indigenous Peoples March, which had been held the day before. Sandmann was surrounded by other boys from Covington Catholic and wore a “Make America Great Again” hat that invoked former President Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric. Some thought Sandmann appeared to be mocking and laughing at Phillips as the elder beat a ceremonial drum, chanted a song, and prayed.

Outrage exploded online, evoking swift condemnation. “This Veteran [Phillips] put his life on the line for our country,” tweeted then-Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), one of the first two Native American women elected to Congress (who later became Secretary of the Interior in the Biden administration). “The students’ display of blatant hate, disrespect, and intolerance is a signal of how common decency has decayed under this administration. Heartbreaking.” 

Media commentary painted Sandmann and his classmates as racially insensitive, The AP reported. Several commentators depicted Sandmann as smirking at Phillips and blocking him, according to Insider.

Days later, a second video emerged online, showing a group of Hebrew Israelites shouting derogatory slurs at the students from Covington Catholic and other passersby at the march. Before long, Covington students surrounded the Hebrew Israelites and began shouting their school chant back at them, according to Sandmann. The person who shot the initial video said the students were yelling “Build the wall,” a commonly invoked reference to Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. But CNN reported that such chants were not discernible in the video.

As tensions mounted, Phillips walked into the crowd of students, beating his drum and seeking to intervene in the increasingly tense confrontation. When Phillips stepped forward, however, Sandmann blocked his path and continued to mock him, the Native American activist told The New York Times. The two men stood just inches apart, Sandmann grinning at the elder as he continued to chant.

“I was scared,” Phillips said in an interview with CNN. “I don’t like the word ‘hate.’ I don’t like even saying it, but it was hate unbridled. It was like a storm.”

Sandmann rejected this characterization and denied that the Covington Catholic students chanted anything hateful or inflammatory. Both Sandmann and Phillips later claimed they were attempting to reduce tensions between the several groups. Featuring conflicting narratives and drawing on national racial tensions, the encounter between Phillips and Sandmann went viral online, leading both to give interviews on the Today show on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24.

In the days after the first video’s release, Sandmann identified himself, seeking to clarify his involvement in the situation. As a “faithful Christian and practicing Catholic,” Sandmann said he always to tries to “remain respectful to others” and “take no action that would lead to conflict or violence.” Sandmann also invoked Phillips’ right to Free Speech.

“I respect this person’s right to protest and engage in free speech activities, and I support his chanting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial any day of the week,” Sandmann wrote in a Jan. 20 statement released by a public relations firm. “I believe he should re-think his tactics of invading the personal space of others, but that is his choice to make.”

After the initial video began to spread, Covington Catholic apologized to Phillips, The Times reported. “We will take appropriate action, up to and including expulsion,” the school wrote in a joint statement with the Diocese of Covington, in which an investigation into the incident was also announced. The school was forced to close Jan. 22 after safety concerns emerged from its being thrust into the national spotlight. It reopened the next day, according to NPR.

But following launch of the investigation and release of the second video, the diocese backtracked: “We should not have allowed ourselves to be bullied and pressured into making a statement prematurely,” said Bishop Roger Joseph Foys, head of the Diocese of Covington, in a Jan. 23 statement.

The diocesan investigation found “no evidence” or “offensive or racist statements” by Sandmann or the other Covington Catholic students, according to a report by the Greater Cincinnati Investigation, Inc. firm, released Feb. 13. The report did find that the students performed “tomahawk chops,” an action mimicking a tomahawk axe swinging that is offensive to Native Americans, according to The Washington Post.

While Foys welcomed and lauded the report’s exoneration of the students, critics argued it dismissed inappropriate behavior by ignoring the broader context.

Six days later, Sandmann and his parents sued The Post for defamation, seeking damages of $250 million. The then-teen claimed that the newspaper sought to advance a political agenda “by publishing a series of false and defamatory… articles which effectively provided a worldwide megaphone to Phillips and other anti-Trump individuals and entities to smear a young boy who was in its view an acceptable casualty in their war against the President.”

Sandmann filed two more suits in the following months. On March 2, Sandmann and his family filed a complaint against CNN, seeking $275 million in damages, alleging that the outlet “ignored the importance of verifying damaging, and in this case, incendiary accusations against a minor child prior to publication” and “intended to harm” Sandmann “because he was a Catholic boy wearing a MAGA hat.” 

On May 1, 2019, Sandmann sued NBC for defamation, seeking $275 million in damages. According to the lawsuit, the news organization “created a false narrative by portraying the ‘confrontation’ as a ‘hate crime’ committed by” Sandmann. 

Outcome

CNN settles with Sandmann

On Jan. 7, 2020, CNN settled Sandmann’s lawsuit for an undisclosed amount, Reuters reported.

“Yes, We settled with CNN,” Sandmann tweeted. The news organization, as well as Sandmann’s attorneys, declined to comment further on the settlement.

Sandmann files five more lawsuits

On March 2, Sandmann sued The Times, ABC News, CBS News, Rolling Stone, and Gannett, a mass media company that owns USA Today, the Cincinnati Enquirer, and the Louisville Courier-Journal, among other publications.

In the complaints, Sandmann alleged that the outlets “conveyed… the false and defamatory gist that Nicholas was the face of an unruly hate mob of hundreds of white, racist high school students who physically assaulted and harassed Native Americans who were engaged in peaceful demonstrations, song[,] and prayer at the National Mall.”

Specifically, his lawyers argued that the papers defamed him when they reported that he had blocked Phillips or would not allow the activist to retreat. The newspapers argued that the statements were not presented as facts, but as Phillips’ opinion.

The Post settles with Sandmann

On July 24, The Post settled Sandmann’s lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. The newspaper admitted to no wrongdoing, Voice of America reported. Kris Coratti, a spokesperson for The Post, told The Hill that the publication was “pleased that we have been able to reach a mutually agreeable resolution of the remaining claims in this lawsuit.”

Sandmann’s attorney, Todd McCurty, told CNN in an email that “Sandmann agreed to settle with the Post because the Post was quick to publish the whole truth—through its follow-up coverage and editor’s notes.”

In a tweet, Sandmann thanked his “family & millions of you who have stood your ground by supporting me. I still have more to do,” he wrote.

Sandmann speaks at Republican National Convention

On Aug. 25, Sandmann appeared in a pre-recorded speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention, urging that “we must all embrace our First Amendment rights and not hide in fear of the media or from the tech companies or from the outrage mob, either.”

According to Sandmann, the “full war machine of the mainstream media revved up into attack mode” against him without properly investigating the facts of the incident. “Advancing their anti-Christian, anti-conservative, anti-Donald Trump narrative was all that mattered,” he said. “And if advancing their narrative ruined the reputation and future of a teenager from Covington, Kentucky, well, so be it.”

Sandmann said he looked forward to the day when the media returns to providing “balanced, responsible, and accountable news coverage.”

NBC settles with Sandmann 

On Dec. 17, 2021, Sandmann tweeted that he settled his case against NBC. The terms of the agreement remain confidential.

Sandmann loses five remaining defamation cases, intends to appeal

On July 26, 2022, a federal judge dismissed Sandmann’s cases against The Times, ABC News, CBS News, Rolling Stone, and Gannett.

U.S. District Judge William O. Bertelsman, nominated by former President Jimmy Carter, ruled that the allegedly defamatory claims were “objectively unverifiable and thus unactionable opinions” protected by the First Amendment.

“The media defendants were covering a matter of great public interest, and they reported Phillips’s first-person view of what he experienced,” Bertelsman wrote. “This would put the reader on notice that Phillips was simply giving his perspective on the incident.”

Sandmann called the ruling a disappointment and said he intended to file an appeal. “We’re fully prepared to argue these cases in the 6th Circuit,” he told the Lexington Herald-Leader.