Supreme Court Correct To Allow Westboro Church Protests—Political Speech Must Be Protected
I have a plane to catch so this will be brief.
I’m glad the Supreme Court has decided 8-1 that the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas has the right to protest outside of military funerals.
These are the folks who yell homophobic slurs in proximity of these funerals.
As odious as these protests are, we can’t pick and choose who may speak and who will not be allowed to speak.
This decision gives the assurance that the widest possible range of political speech will be protected in our nation.
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Texas Liberal is a blog of politics and political history.
My name is Neil Aquino. Here is my profile.
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Texas Liberal 
Yes, I agree with you, not that I have any respect for the S. Court, as they have become to political. I guess some people will just have to try and protect these families from the non christians. Like the bikers. It astounds me as to how these people can claim christianty, but you have all kinds.
This was absolutely the correct Constitutional decision.
I suspect there was not a single Justice on that Court who WANTED to find on behalf of the Phelps. But an 8-1 decision – where the majority includes Scalia and Kagan – pretty much tells the story, doesn’t it?
Thank goodness that the Justices were able to apply constitutional principles DESPITE how odious these Phelps folks are!
Ms. Radford–Yes–Even a bad court can get it right from time-to-time.
Katy–The 8-1 makes it pretty clear.
thanks for both comments.
no what you guys are dumb asses! these people who call themselves christians! mess up peoples lives who is already messed up! that soldier fought and died for them for you for me for the country! The court said the have the freedom of spech! well that soldier is the one that game them the right of speech with his life! my heart goes out to the family! they call themselves a church arnt they suppose to help ppl?
Curtis–You offer a different viewpoint. Thanks for your comment.
I agree – no matter how offensive the message, they have a right to express themselves. Decisions like these must be made on a content-neutral basis; freedom of speech is so basic to our society we cannot allow the government to decide what is worth hearing and what isn’t, even if the speakers are trying to cause a knee-jerk reaction with their hateful message. It was the right decision and it benefits all of us. not just the
“In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends”MLK- A wonderful day to day for my family, my daughter just returned, for the second time from the middle east, 18 yrs, ARMY STRONG, so we are grateful. Hung out in an airport from monday morning untill
Fri. night. Maybe we could get the church to protest that.
I want all of you to envision yourselves on the receiving end of these protests while you are at the funeral of one of YOUR family or a friend who has served this country in protection of ALL the privileges we hold dear and are commonplace to us. I do believe in freedom of speech, but for goodness sake, cannot these poor souls put their loved ones to rest in peace and privacy?