I guess I missed when you posted that (just saw it in GTG's reply).
I was kind of surprised that it wasn't a 5-4, or at least a 6-3.
I think they are targeting individuals who happen to be dead and by extension they are targeting the family because they are dealing with a dead individual.
Again, the Governor of Wisconsin is threatening to police action against union protesters, but these people are guarded.
Out of curiosity who would you have guessed to dissent? I would expect the conservative block to have more respect for the word of law and the more liberal block to get all touchy feely about the rights of the protesters. I'm really surprised that Alito was the one to dissent. I'm looking forward to reading his opinion.
I still haven't seen where they are targeting the individuals.
What I see is them using military funerals as a platform because they generate the most controversy and thus exposure.
I figured Scalia, Roberts, and Alito to be shoo-ins for an opinion in favor of Snyder, with Thomas, Breyer, Ginsberg, Sotomayor, and Kagan as shoo-ins in favor of Phelps. Kennedy, as usual would seem to go either way.
When I first saw that the decision was 8-1 on SCOTUSBlog live decision blog, I started my blog post with Scalia as the dissent. I had to look to confirm that it was Alito.
That is one of the scariest things I have read on here.
Who decides? The majority? NO EFFING WAY!!!!
As disgusting as WBC is, they have every right to protest. The SCOTUS did te right thing.
When you want to put limits on free speech you and the majority disagree with today, just remember tomorrow you may be the minority and it may be your speech that most others despise.
I think the message of hate should be taught in elementary school.
Preserve life through loathing.
Awaken hope within hatred.
Wrest insight from outrage.
Misanthropists! ASSEMBLE!!!
I don't know. It just seems different to me. WBC started out by getting as close as they could to be seen and heard by the family(individual). The Christians who protested the Manson concert wanted to talk to me or anyone who would listen. I could stand near the WBC protesters naked and doing jumping jacks and they would just yell at the family even harder.
WBC conducts their protests in accordance with the restrictions of the state that are reasonable according to Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence, 468 US 288 (1984).
At the time of the Snyder funeral, there was no distance or time restriction in Maryland; Westboro set up their protest 1000 feet away, which would be well within the bounds of current Maryland law require 100 feet.
The funeral motorcade passed 200-300 feet in front of the protest (approximately one block), and Snyder could only see the tops of the picket signs and not the contents of the signs themselves. Snyder only knew about the actual protest itself after the funeral when he saw the new coverage of the event.
"If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable." Texas v. Johnson, 491 U. S. 397, 414 (1989)
That statement is still true today.
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