Last October, iCitizenForum asked “Is Free Speech too costly when it hurts others?” and wondered whether the First Amendment protected Kansas’ homophobic Westboro Baptist Church from liability for its intentionally outrageous and unwelcome demonstrations at the funerals of fallen servicemen and servicewomen. That could colorably be among the civil offenses lawyers call “torts.”
To put a finer point on it, the question making its way up the ladder of the federal judiciary was whether the church must pay $5 million in damages, as a North Carolina court had ruled, for the emotional distress it unarguably inflicted on the father of a dead corporal when Westboro’s congregants picketed a mortuary—as it had others across the country—with signs that said, in effect, a righteous god contrived to kill those soldiers because, in the United States, it is legal to be gay.
Noting, “The Constitution does not allow the prior restraint of expression,” we inquired, “Will it permit, as it does in the cases of libel and invasion of privacy, the collection of damages for harm that expression may cause?”
The Supreme Court of the United States, the top rung of our legal system, voted eight-to-one Tuesday in the negative. The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, concluded:
“Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and—as it did here—inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker. As a Nation we have chosen a different course—to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate. That choice requires that we shield Westboro from tort liability for its picketing in this case . . . It is so ordered.”
Do you agree with the court?
Resources:
- The case is Snyder v. Phelps et al. The text is available at http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-751.pdf
- See October’s post at http://www.icitizenforum.com/discussion-topics/supreme-court/free-speech/…
This was the wrong decision to make! These people who protest at funerals of fallen soldiers are the worst of the worst. Why don't they protest at gay parades if they think that God is punishing the world because of gays. The families of fallen servicemen should be able to greive in private and the fallen servicemen deserve a dignified service as their last rites. Shame on anyone who would protest at these funerals!!
The Supreme Court had to vote to protect free speech. Even if you don't like the words spoken, we must retain our First Amendment right. As much as I dislike the Westboro Church's motives, they have a right to speak as long as they aren't causing physical harm to someone.
Free speech is free, even if its hateful. The Court couldn't have ruled any other way.
You may think the ruling is fair but now the father of the dead marine that started this lawsuit has to pay the Westboro church $116,000 in court costs. That's the stupidest and saddest thing I've heard in a long time.these people have lost their son fighting for our country and they have to pay court costs to such a hateful man.
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