Westboro Baptist Church in court once again over hate dialog

Phelps along with the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church have spared no personal bile throughout their protests of Marine memorials in recent years. And also the Supreme Court may have something to say about that, writes The Baltimore Sun. Soon, the Court will rule whether or not the Westboro Baptist Church is taking this to far in their protests, crossing over into hate dialog territory. Furthermore, the Court will rule as to whether the family of a dead Iraq War Marine whose memorial was protested by the church is entitled to millions of dollars previously awarded to them by a Baltimore federal court, however later rescinded by an appeals court.

Action in the Westboro Baptist Church being called a hate speech

Snyder, father of deceased soldier, said he caught the Westboro Baptist Church protesters on Television following the memorial on March 3, 2006 where he didn’t really see them. The Westboro flock had been gathered outside St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Westminster, Md., during the memorial, with such signs as “Thank God for dead soldiers” and others that assaulted homosexuality. The attack was more towards the “permissive” government. It was not as much towards the Marine himself. Fred Phelps’ daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, maintains a site that that the Westboro Baptist Church uses to attack the Catholic faith, the Marine who passed away and his family, accounts the Sun.

Invasion of privacy and emotional distress causes suit towards Westboro

Snyder decided that he had a lot of intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy from the Westboro Baptist Church. He decided to sue for these things. The jury followed the judge in Baltimore who said that Westboro’s actions were really offensive and inappropriate. The award was only $5 million instead of the $11 million that was requested. By 2009, nevertheless, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the Baltimore verdict, claiming that Westboro Baptist Church’s messages were protected by freedom of speech.

Now the Supreme Court is hearing Albert Snyder’s appeal. Today was part one. There were oral arguments heard. A decision on whether a “private figure” can sue if he is a “target of hateful speech” will come soon, writes the Sun.

Citations

The Baltimore Sun

baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-snyder-arguments-20101006,,5927085.story