The Westboro Baptist Church has been a thorn in the side of nearly everyone who has come into contact with it for a number of years. But taunting people and lacking taste aren’t illegal, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1.
The case, which presented the competing constitutional questions of free speech and privacy, ultimately sided in favor of free speech. Chief Justice Roberts said that the Constitution was designed “to protect even hurtful speech on public issues,” CNN reports.
Only Justice Alito dissented saying, “Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case … [Albert Snyder] wanted what is surely the right of any parent who experiences such an incalculable loss: to bury his son in peace. But respondents, members of the Westboro Baptist Church, deprived him of that elementary right.”
Related Resources:
- Supreme Court Rules For Military Funeral Protesters (NPR)
- Elizabeth Edwards’ Funeral: Church to Protest (FindLaw’s Law & Daily Life)
- Supreme Court Will Hear Funeral Protest Case (FindLaw’s Law & Daily Life)
You Don’t Have To Solve This on Your Own – Get a Lawyer’s Help
Civil Rights
Block on Trump’s Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court
Criminal
Judges Can Release Secret Grand Jury Records
Politicians Can’t Block Voters on Facebook, Court Rules
