Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is taking preliminary legal steps to challenge the reporting on the recent allegations that he had multiple relationships with teenagers, by issuing a demand letter to the local Alabama Media Group, the publisher of AL.com, which has been reporting the story following the Washington Post’s story last week. The letter accuses the publication of defamation, libel, slander, fraud, malice, suppression, wantonness, conspiracy, and negligence.
The letter appears to be a legal scare tactic aimed at making publications, particularly smaller ones, think twice about publishing stories they would normally publish. It seems unlikely it would ever go to court because discovery would likely be unkind to Roy Moore, such that the legal maneuvering is likely a political move to prove Moore’s mettle and belief in his own innocence to Alabama voters. But, perhaps more importantly, the letter is utterly incoherent, full of typos, and incomprehensibly written. It’s worth reading, if only for that. Let’s not forget Roy Moore is also a lawyer and a former judge.
