SUPREME COURT: Right to free speech vs. right to privacy?

I will be watching the Supreme Court closely this term. The Court has three (3) females now although the newest one, Kagan, will have to “recues” herself in many cases since she was involved in them when she worked for the White House.

The one case that caught my interest was the one concerning crazy, religious anti-gay people protesting at the funerals of soldiers recently killed in action. This is a pretty emotional issue and it would be interesting to see whether the judges give into their emotions or stand firmly behind the Constitution and the First Amendment right to free speech.

You have seen this group on the news. They are members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas (basically an extended family of ~70 members) led by their pastor Fred Phelps (80) who is all about being anti-gay.

Why protest at soldier’s funerals? Well, Phelps sees the soldier’s deaths as God’s punishment of America for tolerating gays and lesbians or homosexuality in general, I guess. Remember, most if not all of the soldiers being buried were not gay.

This group of (shall I call them fanatics?) travels all over the nation protesting at soldier’s funerals. They are not dumb; Phelps is a lawyer and his lawyer daughter is arguing their case before the Supreme Court.

The issue pits the right to privacy against the right to free speech. The protestors do not disrupt the funeral, they usually protest along the funeral route which is a little different than barging in on a church service or even a gravesite service.

The original case was brought by a grieving father who felt his privacy to bury his son was violated by this group and a lower court found in his favor and awarded him $5 million for damages. Phelps appealed to the Supreme Court where it now sits.

On the surface, without emotion, the church seems to be within its rights to free speech. They did not invade the privacy of the funeral by somehow obstructing it or impeding the family from proceeding with the funeral service. No, they were just an annoying group of protestors that unnerved family members attending the funeral.

I cannot see any legal or Constitutional basis for denying them their right of free speech no matter how it affected the emotions of the soldier’s family.

Related articles

• Free Speech Vs. Freedom to Mourn in Peace: How Will the Supreme Court Rule? (dailyfinance.com)
• SCOTUS Hears WestboroGang vs. Gold Star Father Case (waronterrornews.typepad.com)
• Is the Westboro Baptist Church Protected by the First Amendment? [Video] (gawker.com)
• Jim Lichtman: Only About the Law? (huffingtonpost.com)
• Snyder v. Phelps: Inside the Supreme Court's Free Speech Showdown (time.com)
• Letters: Pickets at a Funeral: Testing the Limits of Freedom (nytimes.com)