I just got off the phone with an uncle who is the administrative partner of one of DC's biggest law firms. He wants to remain anonymous, but I can say that the firm is nearly 100 years old and has over 500 attorneys. (That limits his identity to a handful of people, all excellent lawyers.)
Like many terrific lawyers, my uncle is the opposite of litigious. He never litigates a case for which he can't find clear evidence to support his side, and he never litigates trivial cases.
That said, my uncle is adamant that there appears to be enough evidence of "civil or criminal negligence and possible cover-up" on the part of Congressmen Boehner and Hastert for the FBI and Justice Department to launch an immediate investigation into their involvement in the Congressman Foley sex scandal.
Nancy Pelosi, Harold Reid and all of us should be demanding such an investigation immediately, to everyone who will listen.
It's my uncle's strong opinion that we don't just have a political scandal on our hands. We may have a major crime involving the top leaders of the Republican party, and we need to handle it as such.
I don't know what the specific crimes and civil "causes of action" (and "elements" of those causes) are that Catholic church authorities have been prosecuted and sued under during their own sexual abuse scandal. I went to law school, but I'm not a practicing attorney, so I don't have access to any good legal research resources. But I think it would be very helpful for someone to look all that up.