You may despise their message, but the First Amendment continues to trump people’s wishes to be free of hateful speech near a funeral. Joe Harris reports: A federal judge has ruled that a Missouri law restricting protests at or near military funerals is unconstitutional. The state enacted the law in 2006 in response to protests…
Tag: Westboro Baptist Church
Westboro Baptist Church wins its appeal
Annie Youderian reports: Signs declaring “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “Fag troops” at the funeral of a Marine killed in Iraq may have been “distasteful and vulgar,” but they are nonetheless protected by the First Amendment, the 4th Circuit ruled Thursday, overturning a $5 million verdict against the Westboro Baptist Church. The three-judge panel…
Free speech trumps privacy at funerals, for now
Missouri’s attempt to block members of Westboro Baptist Church, a gay-hating fundamentalist church, from protesting at military funerals in on hold. Members of the Kansas-based church picket funerals of veterans killed during the war, where they often hold up signs claiming that the soldier’s death is God’s punishment for homosexuality. Their activities are not just…
Privacy vs. free speech
From FOX News, this piece about privacy at funerals vs. free speech rights of Westboro Baptist Church: