Justices To Hear Case Of Protest At Marine Funeral -- New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether the father of a Marine killed in Iraq may sue protesters who picketed his son’s funeral with signs that read “God Hates You” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.”
A federal appeals court dismissed the suit on First Amendment grounds and threw out a $5 million award against the protesters, who are members of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., and maintain that God hates homosexuality and that the death of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan is God’s way of punishing the United States for its tolerance of it.
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More News On The Supreme Court's Decision To Rule On Protests At The Funerals Of Soldiers
Marine's dad ordered to pay protesters' court fees but says he won't -- Wichita Eagle
Supreme Court Wades Into Funeral Protests -- Wall Street Journal
Supreme Court to rule on picketing military funerals -- Jurist
Snyder v. Phelps -- Frederick News Posts opinion
My Comment: I hate these protesters and for what they stand for .... but I will fight to protect their 1rst Amendment Right .... reluctantly.
free speech should be protected. Ok. But there ought to be a buffer zone to keep them from within funeral grounds where private rights need to be protected...ps: I would try to get some hormonally driven guys to slash the tires on their cars .
ReplyDeleteThere's free speech and free speech. This looks to me like they are publicly insulting people, isn't there a law for that in the US?
ReplyDeleteIn my country those yahoos would've been run out of town.
In Canada (the country that I live in), these individuals would be charged for fermenting hate speech.
ReplyDeleteBut the US is picky on their first amendment rights .... with all of it's "warts".
I thought the First Amendment only protected your right from being diminished by the gov't? It doesn't protect you from non violent retaliation from other citizens. No?
ReplyDeleteJust curious.