La Crosse Tribune: The Supreme Court and Westboro Baptist Church

La Crosse Tribune Editorial

This week's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in Snyder vs. Phelps should provide comfort for all of us who value freedom.

Freedom of speech, of course, can be loud and messy. Our ongoing democratic exercise in Wisconsin is proof.

At times, it can be far worse than loud and messy.

In this case, it is reprehensible, despicable, mean-spirited and humiliating. It involves a group that has traveled the country to more than 600 funerals viciously lashing out at grieving families at their most vulnerable moment.

The Snyder in this case represents the family of Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, a 20-year-old U.S. Marine who died in 2006 during battle in Iraq. Phelps is the Rev. Fred W. Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan.

For years, Westboro members -- many of whom are part of the Phelps family -- have toured the country spreading hatred and pain.

They believe that God punishes the United States for condoning homosexuality.

At Lance Cpl. Snyder's funeral -- as at so many military funerals -- the Westboro group brought its placards carrying such hateful messages as "God hates fags" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "America Is Doomed."

But in the First Amendment, there is no asterisk. There's no qualifier. There's no comfort clause that allows us to turn our back on free speech if we don't like the message or the sender.

Snyder's father sued because of the pain the group caused his family. He won at lower court; he lost on appeal.

As Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority: "Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and -- as it did here -- inflict great pain."

But the First Amendment does not allow the government to "react to that pain by punishing the speaker," Roberts wrote. As a result, the First Amendment protects "even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate."

Roberts wrote that "debate on public issues should be robust, uninhibited and wide-open. Speech on public issues occupies the highest rung of the hierarchy of First Amendment values."

Roberts pointed to two key principles in the ruling:

•Westboro's speech -- regardless of your taste for it -- was on a topic of public concern.

•The protest was in a public place, a public sidewalk 1,000 feet from the site of the funeral. The group followed police instructions, and protested quietly and peacefully.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented in the 8-1 ruling.

After the ruling, the late Marine's father said: "My first thought was eight justices don't have the common sense God gave a goat. ... We found out today we can no longer bury our dead in this country with dignity."

The good news is that Snyder's speech, too -- calling eight Supreme Court justices dumber than a goat -- is protected.

Remember, Lance Cpl. Snyder fought in Iraq for our freedoms -- including those set out in the First Amendment.

The ruling confirms that he did not die in vain.