Litigation

High Court Weights Limits on Military Funeral Protests

By Peter Hardin

In one of the most emotional cases likely to come before the Supreme Court this term, the justices were asked to balance free speech rights and a family’s seeking privacy to bury a son who was killed in Iraq.

At the center of the dispute was the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, which has carried out anti-gay protests based on the view that military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan represent God exacting revenge for tolerance of homosexuality in the United States.

The father of a dead Marine whose funeral was picketed sued and won a damage award, but the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned it, according to a Washington Post article.

“This is a case about exploiting a private family’s grief and the question is: Why should the First Amendment tolerate exploiting this bereaved family when you have so many other forums for . . . getting across your message?” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked the church pastor’s daughter, a lawyer representing the father at oral argument.

There were reports from news media across the country about the oral arguments. For a list of them, check out SCOTUSblog. Here is a sampling of editorial opinion:

• New York Times: “[I]t is in the interest of the nation that strong language about large issues be protected, even when it is hard to do so.”
• Los Angeles Times: “The court should rule that the 1st Amendment… protects the ravings of the Westboro Baptist Church.”
• Baltimore Sun: “Our View: The First Amendment’s Guarantee of Freedom of Speech would be meaningless if it didn’t protect the most unpopular and offensive forms of expression.”

Full post as published by The Gavel on October 07, 2010 (boomark / email).