I'm not a constitutional lawyer .. or even a plain old lawyer .. so I would defer to them for better advice
but I believe a civil case doesn't stop you from using a gun again .. or in the Phelps case, stop them from shooting off their mouth again because it was a suit for damages .. it's not a criminal case and no one was arrested ... which is why I highly doubt the USSC would ever touch it
Though if the libs ever got their way and packed the court .. who knows what they would do
Thanks, Mo1. I’m clearly not a lawyer either. Let me just say I’m interested in any law that restricts offensive speech. It doesn’t seem a constitutional right to free speech is worth much if people can win civil suites against you for saying something that offends them. No doubt Fred Phelps crossed the line here. He committed libel, and he violated the family’s privacy rights. He’s toast, and rightly so.