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- Argued: October 6, 2010
- Decided: March 2, 2011
- Involved: Snyder Family & Phelps (Westboro Baptist Church)
- For more than 20 years, the Westboro Baptist Church picketed military funerals, due to their beliefs that God hates the United States of America for the tolerance of homosexuality, especially in the military.
- Fred Phelps, the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, and several parishioners traveled to Maryland to picket the funeral of Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, who was killed in the line of duty in Iraq.
- The picketers displayed signs outside the church for more than 30 minutes. Some of the signs displayed the sayings; "Thank God for dead soldiers", "F*gs doom nations-America is doomed", "Priests rape boys" & "You're going to h*ll"
- Matthew Snyder's father filed a diversity action against Phelps & his daughters (who participated), and also the Westboro Baptist Church - alleging state tort claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress, intrusion upon seclusion, and civil conspiracy.
- A jury held Westboro liable for millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages. Westboro challenged the verdict as grossly excessive and sought judgment as a matter of law on the ground that the First Amendment fully protected its speech. The District Court reduced the punitive damages award, but left the verdict otherwise intact. The Fourth Circuit reversed, concluding that Westboro’s statements were entitled to First Amendment protection because those statements were on matters of public concern, were not provably false, and were expressed solely through hyperbolic rhetoric.
1. First Amendment: The right to freedom of religion, speech, press, and petition.
- The first amendment was used as an argument by Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church.
- Argument explained: Phelps' argument explains that he and his church followed the guidelines of the constitution. Phelps clarifying that the statements made were on the matters of "public concern", they were not provably false, and were expressed through hyperbolic rhetoric.
- Snyder's Argument: Sean Summers, a lawyer for Snyder, told the justices that while Snyder didn't see the signs at the funeral, he was extremely troubled when he became aware of them through media coverage afterward.
"They just used this moment to hijack someone else's private event when they are grieving over a 20-year-old's funeral," Summers said.
- Snyder's argument more or less proposed a question, which is; Does the First Amendment's freedom of speech trump the First Amendment's freedom of religion and peaceful assembly?
The case itself was quite controversial. It brought up the discussion of the first amendment, and dug deep into the guidelines of it. Snyder vs. Phelps seemed more like an ethical and moral problem rather than a constitutional one. Even though it seems that the Baptist Church did something illegal, they actually didn't, but it was still consciously wrong on their part, as some might believe. After the case was settled, the Baptist Church was able to continue their protests.
1. Who do you think won the case?
2. Does the First Amendment's freedom of speech trump the First Amendment's freedom of religion and peaceful assembly?
3. How do you feel about the case? Why do you think it played out the way it did?
- http://www.oyez.org/cases/2010-2019/2010/2010_09_751
- http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-751.pdf
- http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/09-751.ZS.html