Dahlia Lithwick writes about the recent Supreme Court decision in Snyder v. Phelps, the Westboro Baptist Church First Amendment case:
Neither Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion in the case nor Justice Samuel Alito’s angry lone dissent, adds much to existing doctrine or precedent. What makes both opinions interesting is what they leave out. The majority opinion focuses on the fact that the Phelps’ speech is a matter itself of “public concern,” while the dissent contends that it is targeted solely at the Snyder family. Both sides make unspoken assumptions about whether funerals are private places, however; assumptions that suggest a lot about their changing and rather personal views of the difference between public and private spaces in America.
Read more on Slate.