Covington was first exposed to Jehovah's Witnesses through the broadcast sermons of Watch Tower Society President Joseph F. Rutherford on radio station KTSA in San Antonio.
Until 2000, appointment to the board of directors of the Watch Tower Society was almost exclusively limited to those professing to be of the "anointed class" who would "rule as Kings" in heaven with Christ, Covington being the only exception.
[5][6] In 1950, he wrote the Watch Tower tract, Defending and Legally Establishing the Good News to advise Witnesses of their constitutional rights in the United States.
He won exactly 37 (more than 80%) of the 44 cases he brought before the Court, involving issues including compulsory flag-salute statutes, public preaching and door-to-door literature distribution.
[10] In 1966 and 1967, Covington—with his extensive experience in the US Selective Service System and his many successes representing Jehovah's Witnesses—assisted prize-fighter Muhammad Ali to obtain a draft exemption as a Muslim minister.