4th Circuit affirms protection for repulsive speech


	4th Circuit affirms protection for repulsive speech

wiccantexan

10-1-2009 11:04 PM

147 views

tags:

free speech, soldiers, offensive

4 Comments |

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10-2-2009 7:20 AM

kkcapricorn

Free speech can hurt, but not to have it hurts much, much more.

10-2-2009 3:34 PM

jmatts78

Still, a line has to be drawn. The Phelps family are abusing free speech.

10-3-2009 11:53 PM

chestnut501

My pops are on hold so I owe you one wiccantexan. (Sometimes my "comments" are on hold too

)

It seems to me there would be some way to deal with this situation without attacking free speech. How about harassment ? Maybe we should pass some new laws. No one should have to endure harassment during a loved ones funeral.

10-4-2009 3:26 AM

foxyarse

The Phelps family is a bunch of psychotic scum

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/0af2862a-ba89-458b-b930-5ae1717696a0/1D2D174A-6F10-419F-85F0-A37DCC11F4FA/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=22138" href="http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=22138" style="font-size: 11px;">www.firstamendmentcenter.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=22138"><P><FONT><FONT><FONT size="2" face="Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif" color="black"><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" color="black">The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week reminded us of two 
unfortunate realities. First, defending First Amendment freedoms often involves 
defending sickening speakers. Second, in many instances, the more outrageous the 
speech, the more likely it is to be protected from civil liability.</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=22138"><FONT size="3" face="Times New Roman, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" color="black"><I><A href="http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/081026.P.pdf">Snyder v. 
Phelps</A></I> involved the all-too-familiar efforts of Fred Phelps and his 
Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church to garner news media attention at the 
expense of family and friends grieving the loss of soldiers killed in battle. In 
this case, the soldier was Matthew Snyder, a native of Westminster, Md., who was 
killed in Iraq on March 3, 2006.</FONT></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=22138">Having witnessed this anguish, the jury awarded Snyder’s father $2.9 million 
in compensatory damages and $8 million in punitive damages. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=22138">The protesters appealed, claiming their speech was protected under 
the First Amendment.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=22138">The 4th Circuit, though troubled by the picketers’ distasteful opportunism, 
agreed</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/1D2D174A-6F10-419F-85F0-A37DCC11F4FA/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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