(Image source: The Atlantic Wire)


BY ALISON SCHUTZ

ANCHOR: ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO

 

You're watching multisource US video news analysis from Newsy.

Freedom of speech versus freedom of religion. Public versus private. Right versus wrong.

The gavel has dropped and the media is buzzing about the U.S. Supreme Court’s 8-1 ruling that the Westboro Baptist Church has the right to protest at military funerals.

Here’s the back story: the Kansas church picketed outside the funeral of a fallen Marine in Maryland in 2006. The soldier’s father sued Reverend Fred Phelps and his church for emotional distress- but today, the High Court says Westboro was within its rights.

“They decided that Westboro’s message wasn’t about the specific soldier they were picketing, but instead about wider national public issues, criticism of our country and that is protected by the First Amendment.” (Fox News)

Although the Westboro group followed Maryland’s funeral picketing guidelines, the one, in the 8-1 ruling, doesn’t buy it. MSNBC reports the lone dissenter Justice Samuel Alito says the protest was indeed a private attack.

“He said this ultimately is not about public issues. This was a private action, a private attack on a single family and a single father and that the father should be able to sue for damages.”

The Atlantic Wire suggests the 8-1 ruling appears to be a good measure of how the media feels as well: extreme distaste for Westboro’s intolerance, but support for protecting freedom of speech.

A blogger for The Stranger writes:

“No doubt the activities of the truly awful Phelps family are, well, truly awful. But it's heartening to know that our Constitution still loves free speech even more than Phelps hates f***."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Jay Bookman agrees.

“As despicable as those ‘church members’ might be, I don’t know how the court could have ruled otherwise. Tolerating the rantings of hateful fools is part of the price we pay for free speech.”

And CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin says he wasn’t surprised by the ruling.

“These statements, in this context, non-disruptive statements about politics are at the heart of what the First Amendment is all about even if it’s a distasteful awful situation.”

The Westboro Baptist Church now says it will quadruple the number of funerals it protests at. One Detroit Free Press columnist says- that’s to be expected- but our reaction is yet to be determined.

“The decision will probably energize this tiny band of hatemongers. The rest of us will have to remember that they are just that, a tiny band, and exercise our right to ignore them.”

According to the Bellingham Herald, more than 40 states have enacted funeral protest laws to restrict picketers. The laws may differ from state to state- but almost all were prompted by the Westboro protests.
 

Follow Newsy on Twitter @Newsy_Videos for more daily updates. 

Get more multisource US video news analysis from Newsy.

Transcript by Newsy.