Westboro Baptist Church Wins Supreme Court Case

The nearly unanimous Supreme Court ruling stemmed from a lawsuit by Albert Snyder, who sued church members for causing profound emotional distress by picketing at his son's 2006 funeral. The Kansas-based church has a history of demonstrating outside of military funerals, espousing the message that the military is being castigated in response to the nation's acceptance of homosexuality. Westboro Church members have picketed with signs that read, ''Thank God for dead soldiers,'' ''You're Going to Hell,'' ''God Hates the U.S.A./Thank God for 9/11,'' ''Fags Doom Nations,'' and ''Semper Fi Fags''.

Such was the picketing that took place outside of U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder's funeral, causing a necessary change in funeral procession routes. Following his son's funeral, Albert Snyder came across a poem on the Westboro Church website attacking his son and the way he was raised. Snyder responded by filing a lawsuit against the Phelps family for deliberately causing emotional distress. Fred Phelps, the founder of the Church, and his family members constitute the majority of the church's followers. As a result of the trial, Snyder was awarded $11 million, which was later reduced to $5 million. However, the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia threw out the verdict and earlier this month, the Supreme Court supported that ruling.

In the 8-1 ruling in favor of the Westboro Church, Justice Samuel Alito was the only judge to dissent. According to Alito, ''Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case.'' However, Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion for the court, said that the church's history of protesting against multiple groups, including Catholics, Jews, and other groups, suggests that the Phelps family was not engaging in a personal attack against Snyder. Rather, the group was protesting the moral conduct of the American people in relation to homosexuality. Furthermore, the church has picketed outside of numerous military funerals, as well as celebrity funerals, in an effort to draw media attention. According to Roberts, the speech is protected under the constitution, regardless of how unpalatable it may be. Church members obeyed police orders to remain 1,000 feet from the church where the 2006 funeral was taking place, and therefore, no laws were broken.

The Supreme Court ruling mirrors numerous court decisions that offer First Amendment protections to speech concerning public issues. However, there is also the question of the right to a private and respectful funeral for fallen servicemen and women. Alito says that the church caused the grieving Snyder great injury and the Supreme Court decision serves to intensify that injury. To add insult to injury, Snyder may be required to pay the Phelps family's legal fees, which are estimated to be in the neighborhood of $100,000. Snyder fears that this money will ultimately be used to financially support further military funeral protests.