In re: the Westboro Baptist Gay Terrorist Club, where Sam Alito appears to be the only one who hasn’t got his head firmly placed up his arse.
Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case.
Petitioner Albert Snyder is not a public figure. He is simply a parent whose son, Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, was killed in Iraq. Mr. Snyder wanted what is surely the right of any parent who experiences such an incalculable loss: to bury his son in peace. But respondents, members of the Westboro Baptist Church, deprived him of that elementary right. They first issued a press release and thus turned Matthew’s funeral into a tumultuous media event. They then appeared at the church, approached as closely as they could without trespassing, and launched a malevolent verbal attack on Matthew and his family at a time of acute emotional vulnerability. As a result, Albert Snyder suffered severe and lasting emotional injury.1 The Court now holds that the First Amendment protected respondents’ right to brutalize Mr. Snyder. I cannot agree.
Preach it, Justice Alito.
If there ever was a case of something that is NOT “free speech” but rather a direct, knowing, deliberate emotional assault with both foreknowledge and malice aforethought, it would be the freak show of the incestuous apes of the Phaggot Phelps “A Family Who Fucks Together, STAYS Together” cult.
There is absolutely nobody, NOBODY with any sort of respect for the First Amendment stating that the knuckle-dragging mutants of the Phelps Phamily don’t have the right to put their obnoxious, vile “opinions” on public display, they most certainly DO, but said right is in no conceivable way curtailed by prohibiting them from engaging in open assault on innocent, mourning family members asking for nothing more than the courtesy of being allowed to bury their dead in peace.
They could shout and howl their simian slogans at the top of their lungs anywhere ELSE but, and that’s what establishes their foreknowledge and malice, nobody would pay any fucking attention to their little circus if they did. They DELIBERATELY choose that particular venue because it will get them attention and they KNOW it will get them attention because their emotional terrorism is so obvious and repugnant to members of the human race.
We expect this kind of lunatic decision from the crazed liberal members of the court, but we’re quite frankly at a loss when it comes to understanding why any Justices with a functioning synapse would side with them.
We suppose that this means that Justice Thomas would be absolutely fine, on Constitutional grounds, with racist troglodytes from, say Stormfront, harrowing and harassing his grandchildren every day on their way to and from school with racial slurs and their Constitutionally protected right to believe that blacks are nothing more than apes without fur?
We’d like to see him defend that one, because he’d have to or be exposed for the hypocritical liar that he is.
Thatisall.
The problem with this is that Snyder didn’t witness the pHELLps Worstburrow Batpissers’ presence near the funeral site; he saw ’em on TV afterwards. Wasn’t the best case to bash the bastards on.
Of course we’re still free to devise our own evil schemes to bring about the Phall of the House of pHELLps…
P.S.–Phirst to phlip off the pHELLps phuqqars!
OK, folks. I’m going to be the lone dissenter in this case, and you all can take your shots at me. I loathe the Phelps assholes. Loathe them with the passion of a nuclear blast. Having said that, I’m going to put strong emotions aside and say that the USSC decision was legally correct. The First Amendment applies to all,… Read more »
I have to agree with Justice Alito on this one. Like is common knowledge for anyone with a triple digit IQ, one persons’ rights stop where another one’s start. Now just consider the Freedom of Speech issue. It has been argued that you can not yell, “FIRE!!!” in a crowded theater? Why? Because it MIGHT cause panic and result in… Read more »
OK… flame away. Not at all, Nicki. On the technical merits of the case, it’s absolutely the correct decision. On the other hand, Alito’s absolutely correct, too. What the Westboro crowd is doing doesn’t – or shouldn’t, anyway – qualify as “debate”, but emotional assault & battery. That said, if it were MY son or family member, I would have… Read more »
While th Phelps’ speech may be Constitutionally protected as to content, the choice of venue easily places it into the arena of the “Fighting Words Doctrine”. That choice in and of itself is a direct indication of intent to inflict pain and suffering, harass, insult, and humiliate on a deeply personal level. To the best of my knowledge, SCOTUS has… Read more »
Response to LC Draco @: 1) We CAN yell fire in a theater – IF there’s an actual fire. I don’t think this is a valid comparison 2) Emotional battery is a subjective criterion. Physical battery is not. What offends one person may do nothing to stir the emotions of another. That’s why, as opprobrious as I find these motherfuckers,… Read more »
I have to agree with Darth Venomous here – Both Alito and the Majority were correct here. (1) The flea-brained refugees from an inbred psyco ward that constitutes the members of the WB clan (how the HELL to they call that a “Church”) have a RIGHT to say whatever they like. (2) If we start issuing restraints on what and… Read more »
so where is the LGBT in this. i would have thought they would be all over the
felchersphelps for “hate speech against protected minorities” angle.Why can’t these
religiouscult followers do what all cults do and commit suicide. I’d be willing to help them in that regard and would stand up for their right to do make that decision.Response to LC PrimEviL @: The “Fighting Words” doctrine–yeah, you rite! Thaz what I’ve been saying about Phelch from way back. Sure, he has 1st A rights and we have 2nd A rights. Alito’s observations of the intentional psychological brutality exhibited by Phelch and fuks at a particularly sensitive and inappropriate time lay the groundwork for invocation of the fighting… Read more »
Without a doubt, the decision sucks but this is the price we pay for living under the kind of government we have. However, there are ways to make things as uncomfortable for the Phelps folks such as businesses refusing to help them in any manner. They are welcome to protest but folks are under no obligation to make it easier… Read more »
Response to Grammar Czar @:
I have a feeling that the American Legion will be soliciting donations for his cause as well as any other military group.
Response to Grammar Czar @:
Now THAT is fucking unacceptable!
This wasn’t a frivolous lawsuit. It was a legitimate claim that was denied by the courts. No fucking WAY he should be forced to pay for this! That’s a fucking travesty!!!
isnt disorderly conduct or inciting a riot citable crimes
Sadly, we are a nation of ever-increasing laws precisely because people & governments have demonstrated over & over that they cannot be trusted to conduct themselves like civilized adults. The First Amendment is there to protect people from being injured by the Government for their public utterances (originally intended for government-critical utterances). Bring suit against another person for those utterances… Read more »
T says: I would like an expansion on the “Fighting words doctrine” – what is it, what does it cover, how far (legally) does it extend? If someone tells me they are going to harm my children, is that sufficient cover for me to ventilate them? The concept of “fighting words” (from a legal perspective) relied heavily of the principle… Read more »
Darth Venomous says: I predict that, within a year – 18 months at the outside – at least one of the Phelps mongrels will be found dead. Perhaps Phaggot Phreddy himself, Shirley, one of the others or maybe even a majority of them. What’s going to happen is that, having been denied justice in the jury box, and the ballot… Read more »
I agree this comment on Cold Fury by Meiji_man.
Meiji_man
March 2nd, 2011 at 21:41 | #3
The problem dear friends, is that the 1st Amendment was written with the presumption of human decency. That and legal duels. Decency and the ability to shoot the fucker who refuses not to be decent.
A friend told me that on some of the biker sites there is a call going out for as many bikers as possible to show up (I believe it’s the first Sunday in June) outside the Westboro Baptist Center for Incest, with the intent to disrupt their services. Phelps and clan should not prostest, as that would be protected speech… Read more »
Response to LC Ogrrre @ 25:
LC Xystus says: The problem with this is that Snyder didn’t witness the pHELLps Worstburrow Batpissers’ presence near the funeral site; he saw ‘em on TV afterwards. THAT is the only thing in this thread that makes a difference, a huge one, and I wasn’t aware of that. I must have mixed this case up with the numerous other ones… Read more »
Emperor Misha I says: LC Xystus says: The problem with this is that Snyder didn’t witness the pHELLps Worstburrow Batpissers’ presence near the funeral site; he saw ‘em on TV afterwards. THAT is the only thing in this thread that makes a difference, a huge one, and I wasn’t aware of that. I must have mixed this case up with… Read more »
LC Nicki mentioned 1) We CAN yell fire in a theater – IF there’s an actual fire. I don’t think this is a valid comparison. Yeah, but the main argument is if there is NO fire and still yell, “FIRE!!” And as for emotional battery, I would agree it is subjective. But then PTSD was subjective up to about 2-3… Read more »
LC Nicki the Resident Misanthropic Bitch says: OK, folks. I’m going to be the lone dissenter in this case, and you all can take your shots at me. No you’re not. The ruling was correct, no matter how unpopular it may be. The same First Amendment that lets the Phelps phucknuggets act like assholes in pub-lick also allows the Patriot… Read more »
Hmmmmmm…