Supreme Court Considers Free Speech and Protests at Military Funerals

The court will have to decide whether the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects protesters at a funeral from being sued for intentionally inflicting emotional distress on the family of the deceased.

Hateful, but illegal?

	Westboro Baptist Church is located in Topeka, Kansas and has gained national attention for its controvesial views on homosexuality.

While most Americans agree that the hateful remarks have no place at a funeral, there is disagreement over whether the church's actions are illegal.

In fact, 22 of the nation's leading newspapers and media organizations have filed what is known as an amicus brief siding with the church.

"Without a doubt the church's message of intolerance is deeply offensive to many, and especially so to gay Americans, Catholics, veterans, and the families of those who sacrificed their lives defending the United States.  But to silence a fringe messenger because of the distastefulness of the message is antithetical to the First Amendment's most basic precepts," the media groups argue.

A fight between two families

	Signs like those shown above are common at protests organized by members of the Westboro church.

The church calls itself Baptist, but it is not part of the mainstream Baptist church and almost all of the members are Mr. Phelps’ relatives.  The church has picketed hundreds of funerals, including those of people who have died of AIDS.  In 2009 they protested at the funeral of musician Michael Jackson.

On the other side, is Albert Snyder, who witnessed one of these protests during the funeral for his son, Matthew, a Marine killed in Iraq in 2006.  Albert Snyder sued the Westboro church, saying the protests continue to haunt and disturb him.

Are funerals special cases?

	Thousands of U.S. soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan since both wars began. Some of those soldiers are buried in Arlington National Cemetary in Virginia.

In arguments, both sides addressed the issue of whether burials are special cases.

Sean Summers, who represents Albert Snyder, said that the protesters’ actions were indecent and insensitive, arguing that a funeral should be treated with added respect.

"We are talking about a funeral. If context is ever going to matter, it has to matter in the context of a funeral," Summers said.

Margie Phelps countered that protests are acts of free speech and should therefore be protected by the Constitution.  She said that once the death of a child or funeral is announced in the paper it becomes a public event, leaving protesters unaccountable for the feelings of an individual family.

'A strong First Amendment court’

	The Supreme Court decision of Snyder v. Phelps will be landmark in terms of First Amendment rights.

There have been several debates over First Amendment rights when protests have arisen in public places. The landmark Chaplinsky v. State of New Hampshire trial in 1942 involved a man named Walter Chaplinsky who used public sidewalks as a pulpit for Jehovah’s Witnesses. When he was reprimanded by a police officer for his public displays, he yelled back calling the officer a “damned fascist” among other names.

He was arrested under the New Hampshire law that it is illegal to use "any offensive, derisive or annoying word to anyone who is lawfully in any street or public place.” This case also ended up in the Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled in favor of the state of New Hampshire.