Today in a 8-1 Supreme Court decsion that the Westboro Baptist Church anti-gay protest at furnerals was protected by the First Amendment. The Opinion of the Court was written by Cheif Justice John Roberts, in it he said the First Amendment "even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate."
What I got from the article was that because the Westboro Baptist Church has a long history of picketing at funerals and other things, their protest at Matthew Snyde's funeral wasn't a personal attack on him. So its protected by the First Amendment. I totally disagree with the court. Alito the only disenter, said the protesters" "brutally attacked" Matthew Snyder to attract public attention." Just because the protest funerals all the time doesn't make them protesting the funeral any less personal for the parents of the fallen Marine. Alito said "Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case,"
The father's reaction to the court was thus: "My first thought was, eight justices don't have the common sense God gave a goat." ... "We found out today we can no longer bury our dead in this country with dignity." The article goes on to say that the Snyders, the victims in this case, might also have to pay for the legal fees for the Westboro Baptist Church since they lost the case.
I think the Supreme Court made the wrong decsion, how about you?
What I got from the article was that because the Westboro Baptist Church has a long history of picketing at funerals and other things, their protest at Matthew Snyde's funeral wasn't a personal attack on him. So its protected by the First Amendment. I totally disagree with the court. Alito the only disenter, said the protesters" "brutally attacked" Matthew Snyder to attract public attention." Just because the protest funerals all the time doesn't make them protesting the funeral any less personal for the parents of the fallen Marine. Alito said "Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case,"
The father's reaction to the court was thus: "My first thought was, eight justices don't have the common sense God gave a goat." ... "We found out today we can no longer bury our dead in this country with dignity." The article goes on to say that the Snyders, the victims in this case, might also have to pay for the legal fees for the Westboro Baptist Church since they lost the case.
I think the Supreme Court made the wrong decsion, how about you?
3 comments:
Although I think that it is extremely disrespectful and kind of messed up to protest at a funeral, i think the Supreme Court made the right decision. This case sets a precedent that upholds the rights of protesters which is a basic constitutional right. I wish that the Snyder family could have received something for the the disrespect, but the Supreme Court has to keep the bigger picture in mind, like the effect the decision will have on the future. At least the Westboro Baptist Church also has a lot of negative publicity too. It is too bad that legality and morality are not always directly linked.
As much as I hate the Westboro church (if they deserve to be called a church), I have to agree with the Supreme Court's ruling. What the Westboro Church did was political speech, and fully protected under the First Amendment. Yes, it's unpopular, and yes, I would say it's wrong and evil, but the point of the First Amendment is that we must allow political dialogue, however unpopular the viewpoint expressed. I don't think funeral protests can be exempted from First Amendment protections.
I think the main reason I disagree with the courts decision is that the Westboro Baptist church crosses the line. I agree that they have a right to protest and that right doesn't change just cause they're at a funeral. But the Westboro Baptist Church made their protest personal and crossed the line and turned it into hate speech. The main reason the father of the fallen Marine was that Several weeks after the funeral, "Albert Snyder was surfing the Internet for tributes to his son from other soldiers and strangers when he came upon a poem on the church's website that assailed Matthew's parents for the way they brought up their son." The WEstboro Baptist Church went from political protest to personal attacks to me.
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