Posted on 03/09/2011 11:48:46 AM PST by Hawk720
WASHINGTON - The father of a Marine killed in Iraq won't pay the nearly $100,000 in court costs charged by Westboro Baptist Church, which picketed his son's 2006 funeral, in the wake of his unsuccessful lawsuit against the group, his lawyer said.
"We're not just going to write them a check," Sean Summers, lawyer for Albert Snyder, said Friday. "We're going to make them work for it." The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 last week that Westboro's anti-gay protests were speech protected under the First Amendment. The decision upheld the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision to deny Snyder's suit against the anti-gay church's founder, Fred Phelps.
Snyder's son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, was not gay, but the church pickets military funerals nationwide because they say soldiers' deaths are God's vengeance for the country's tolerance of homosexuality.
A lower court awarded Albert Snyder $5 million in damages for emotional distress. However, at the Supreme Court, all the justices except Samuel Alito sided with Westboro, which means Snyder may be on the hook for the church's court costs.
Westboro member and lead lawyer Margie Phelps said it was nobody's business whether the church used the money to finance more funeral protests.
"He intended to shut us down and he announced that far and wide," she said. "And the Pentagon backed him up on it. That was their plan. And now they're going to finance some of it, that's how they see it. It's a beautiful, poetic thing."
(Excerpt) Read more at hometownannapolis.com ...
Who funds this so called church?
It seems to me that this is one case where vigilante justice would be real justice. Somebody needs to shut these people down.
I think lawsuits fund the “church”.
I don’t know, but they are just EVIL.
Would church records being a special tax exempt organization, be public?
And aren’t they engaging in politics with their stance, which isn’t allowed under the tax exemption?
Yep. It’s a ‘family’ made up of lawyers.
Do they ever have actual services or Bible studies? I wonder if people can picket when their “services” or “Bible studies” are going on. I bet we could come up with a lot of people who would love to give them a dose of their own medicine.
I think Westboro finally stepped pushed a little too hard.
“It’s a beautiful, poetic thing”
So is a 6 pattern in the 9 ring from 50 ft.
Oh...for the return to the days when dueling was at least quasi legal...
It’s not a church.
The odd thing is... there actually ARE sins that God hates.
Homosexuality/sodomy are some of the ones, historically speaking, that have received the strongest rebuke from the God of the Bible.
Remember Sodom & Gomorrah?
Just saying...
I thought BOR promised to pay the court costs.
Big jerk will probably welsh.
To turn the line from “Goodfellas” inside out...
“Pay you? **** me!”
“Who funds this so called church?”
I say we just blame George Soros.
The article said that BOR will pay it. Then the Westboro lawyer said they’d be willing to ‘barter’ the amount in exchange for ‘airtime’ on his show; he refused.
My guess is that mammon is the only god these heathens worship.
Yes, and it’s hard to believe they make enough in lawsuits to fund all that they do, but maybe. I agree they are evil. It’s hard to imagine they aren’t mixing into politics tho. I wonder if they have an actual church?
In the meantime, I'll pray for someone to punch either Mr or Mrs Phelps in the nose. Now THAT would be beautifully poetic.
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