Unbelievable. I fear their decision on ObamaCare. OTOH, we are free to do the same at funerals for Liberals...
So long as these evil anti-American, anti-Christian thugs are on public property, I agree with the Supremes. The WBB thugs have the same constitutional rights as the rest of us. [My solution: use private property rights to restrict them from disturbing decent people to the maximum extent possible, otherwise tolerate them just like we tolerate those who still cheer for Obama. ]
The father will now be liable for the "legal costs" incurred by the WBC in these court actions.
......sad day.
We all (atleast I hope we all know) that the Westboro nuts are democrats trying to make Christians look bad. Someone just needs to post the picture of the head of the cult with Algore.
But this goes to the whole slippery slope. If we stop protest (unless fire in a theater) then we are going to lose more rights. Then they will try to shut down FR because of "hate speech", then the tea party, ect.......
So as much as I hate and despise these democrat cultists, the Supreme Court got it right.
The vote was 8-1. We don’t always like the rulings but this comes down to freedom of speech. It really couldn’t have gone another way.
Well, they do have the right to do that but what has kept people from doing that in the past is decency, respect and the fear of of a butt whooping by family and friends of the dead something the Westboro bunch don’t seem to have...
When ya think about it, that is only thing that prevents most folks from indiscriminately breaking any of societies taboos.
Those protesters will now be even more hated. They may think they have full license now, but I bet the numbers that protest them will grow even more.
I think I understand the SC’s decision, but what if someone yells “Fire!” in a public place?
Hold a funeral that Westboro is going to protest, move it to private property. The arrest the fools for trespassing when they get well inside of the proerty line.
while i do not agree with what they were doing I do agree with the ruling.
I would have been very concerned for our future had it had another outcome.
If the court had ruled against them then the left would have used this to attack free speech that they consider anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-leftist.
BTW- they aren’t “fundimentalist church members” the are radical left wing socialists.
this does not bother me that much - there are other ways of dealing with these people.
The WBC isn’t a church, it’s a moneymaking scam of the worst kind, which makes them even more despicable.
It’s the right decision - BUT...
there’s is nothing that says you can’t have a municipal ordinanace that protects people from this sort of thing.
Case in point: the “cone” around abortion clinics for protesters...
local ordinances could “cone” funerals...and keep these a**holes away.
Ok, so a piece of paper protects them. About as much as a piece of paper protects a woman from her ex-husband/boyfriend/stalker. Some parent or relative might take exception one day to them. Just saying.
I hate the WBB, but the silver lining is that this is a good precedent that will be valuable down the road.
Of course a few large family members of the deceased might make these nuts very unhappy that they showed up!
http://awesomescreenshot.com/02685esab
Screenshot of Greetings from Anonymous.
There is nothng in the Contitution the allows government to impair free speech under the First Amendment simply because the speech makes people feel uncomfortable. I have read the SCOTUS decision and I concur.
No other decision they could have made if we want to keep freedom of speech.
All that you folks and the Supremes are doing is giving these thugish nuts the absolute right to do absolutely ANYTHING to call the attention of the sycophantic media to their cause.
What's next? They'll be able to picket the funerals of child victims of pedophile sexual abuse to get even more attention or even more heinous tactics?
You people and the Supremes are just blowing the lid off of this kind of thing. What about when they show up at rape trials and claim that women get raped because it's God's judgment and will because America supports gay's, like they protest at these military funerals?
That's only two quick examples off the top of my head. These WBB nuts are ALL trained lawyers. Like the Clintons, they didn't train in law, they trained in the WEAKNESSES in the law and if it can occur to me, it'll occur to them in time too.
Hey, public property, remember? I'll probably get taken down because, hey, it's free speech, right? Who cares about people's feelings or emotions? Long as they get to spew their hatred, you folks are ok with that, huh?
This is a MAJOR can of worms.