Justices struggle with free speech, protests - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Justices struggle with free speech, protests

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices expressed concern Wednesday for a father whose Marine Corps son was killed in Iraq and whose funeral was protested by fundamentalist pastor Fred Phelps and his anti-gay followers.

“This is a case about exploiting a private family’s grief,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said.

Yet, the array of justices’ questions during the hourlong session revealed the difficulty of the case and the reality that the court’s free-speech precedents make it hard for individuals to claim they have been harmed by even horrific statements regarding public issues.

Even with their sympathy for the bereaved father, the justices, including key vote Anthony Kennedy, were clearly struggling with how to avoid a ruling that encroaches on legitimate, although hateful, protest messages.

Justice Elena Kagan noted that the demonstrators were “glomming on to a private funeral,” yet they apparently were following all local ordinances about keeping their distance from the church.

Ginsburg’s questions also suggested that state and local laws about where protesters may gather might sufficiently protect the sanctity of funerals.

The case arose after Matthew Snyder, a Marine Corps lance corporal, was killed in Iraq in 2006. Fred Phelps and members of the Westboro Baptist Church, who comb media reports nationwide for news of military funerals, saw that Matthew would be memorialized and buried in rural Maryland. They protested near the Catholic church in Westminster, Md., with signs that said: “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” “Fag Troops” and “Pope in Hell.”

Westboro, founded by Phelps in 1955 and made up mainly of his relatives, preaches that God hates gay people and protests what it says is a national tolerance for homosexuality, particularly in the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Matthew Snyder was not gay, yet his funeral offered Westboro congregants a forum for their message.

Church followers separately posted on the Web a video “epic” about their protests titled The Burden of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder. The video said Albert Snyder and his ex-wife had “taught Matthew to defy his creator” and “raised him for the devil.”

Snyder sued for damages based on the emotional distress that Phelps and his followers caused him and won $5 million in a jury verdict. The trial judge said Snyder was not a “public figure,” which diminished the free speech protections for Phelps and his followers.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that reversed the verdict said the question was not the private or public status of Snyder but rather the “type” of speech at issue.

“As utterly distasteful as these signs are,” the 4th Circuit said, “they involve matters of public concern, including the issue of homosexuals in the military, the sex-abuse scandal within the Catholic Church and the political and moral conduct of the United States and its citizens.”

In appealing Wednesday, Snyder’s lawyer Sean Summers said, “Mr. Snyder simply wanted to bury his son in a private, dignified manner.”

Summers acknowledged that the demonstrators did not go on church grounds and did not violate any local statutes, yet stressed that the demonstrators cannot claim the usual First Amendment protections for free speech because of the “private, targeted nature” of their harsh words against Snyder.

Justice Stephen Breyer drew out from Summers that Snyder had not seen the offensive signs until after the funeral on a television report.

Lawyer Margie Phelps, one of the Phelpses’ daughters, represented Fred Phelps and his Westboro followers. She said their protest met all the rules set by prior court decisions.

She told the justices that the fact Albert Snyder had talked publicly about his son’s death turned him into a public figure — a point that drew skepticism from many of the justices, including Samuel Alito.

Alito expressed doubts that bereaved family members could be turned into “public figures” by providing obituary information to a newspaper or expressing pride on a son’s service.

Phelps told the justices that the “umbrella” of protection for “speech on public issues” is wide, even when directed at individuals.

Justice Kennedy suggested that might be too broad a standard and urged Phelps to help the justices “find some line” between speech that merits protection and that that does not.

Phelps repeatedly referred to Westboro as “a little church” intent on preaching its message, which she characterized at one point as, “Nation, hear this little church, If you want them to stop dying, stop sinning.” Before the arguments, a handful of Phelps followers carried signs, such as “God Hates You,” in front of the marble columned building.

Wednesday’s case is one of the most closely watched of the term. The courtroom was filled and spectators spilled into special seats set up in the alcoves. Nearly 100 reporters had sought passes for the hearing.

Groups backing Snyder, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars and 48 states, stress the need to protect the privacy of grieving military families. Free speech groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, say Phelps’ horrific message is exactly the kind of unpopular, offensive speech the First Amendment was intended to protect.

A ruling in the case of Snyder v. Phelps is likely before next summer when the court recesses.

DISCUSS: THE CASE & FREEDOM OF SPEECH