Landmark Decision by the United States Supreme Court

Over the past few months, the United States Supreme Court has been deliberating a case that has polarized the American populace because it calls into question one of the fundamental rights of the individual – the right to freedom of expression. But yesterday, the Supreme Court almost unanimously found in favor of the Phelps family and the Westboro Baptist Church in what was a 8 to 1 decision protecting free speech in all public forums, including at military funerals.

The background of the case is simple enough. The Westboro Baptist Church, a radical Church of about 50 people mostly from the Phelps family, have been protesting military funerals not only as a way to spread their hateful message against America, the military, and homosexuals. At one such funeral, the father of the deceased soldier, Matthew Snyder, sued the Phelps family for tort liability in other words, for the intentional infliction of emotional distress on a family deep in mourning for the loss of their son. Over the next few years, the case made its way up through several levels and the problems of free speech, especially the question of whether or not funerals of soldiers killed in the line of duty should be protected and whether the rights of the family should be held above the rights of the individual to peacefully protest as long as that individual follows the city code.

The oral arguments for the case were heard in October by the United States Supreme Court and on March 2, the court released its decision in favor of the Phelps family. Now, while this case has sparked strong sentiment across the United States – most people are quite vocal about their hatred and condemnation of the WBC’s message and in their support for and solidarity with the families of the deceased – the Supreme Court has used this case as a strong statement about the power of the First Amendment.

This case has provided protection for all people looking to protest in a public forum, regardless of events taking place around them as long as they follow the time, place and manner restrictions placed by the city governments. The court has upheld the rights of the people not only to peaceably assemble but also to speak their mind in a political forum. And today, the United States Supreme Court has once again defended the right we hold most dear in a representative government – that of free expression. Indeed, as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said “free speech only matters when it protects the speech we hate to hear.”