Supreme Court rules in favor of Westboro protesters

Score one for free speech:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/02/AR2011030202548.html

Like I said on the thread on Anything Goes that mentions the ruling, Alito has now been the lone dissenter in two free speech cases in the last two years (animal cruelty case last year), though he sure was on board with Citizens United.

Hopefully this bodes well for the California video game law being struck down when that judgment comes down.

This Court seems quite speech-friendly.

 

I don't see the inconsistency on Alito's part.

 

Excellent point.

 

This is one of those cases where the only way to fight free (albeit extremely distasteful) speech is with more free speech.

 

I think it's more nuanced than that. He thinks that Westboro is basically immunizing defamatory speech by cloaking it in speech on public issues, and he doesn't think they should be able to do that.

 

This. It's either that or ignore them. The two things that would piss the WBC off more than anything else would be 1) Not listening to them or 2) Having a message thrown back at them via the same methods they've been using against everyone else.

When people show up at the Phelps' funerals protesting, you can bet the Phelps will bitch about it, even though it's their lawsuits that allow it.

 

Ball bats would be good too.

 

I am certainly against providing police protection for these inbreds. If you're willing to spout your filth, have the balls to do it where you can get your ass kicked.

 

They'll eventually miscalculate, and one or more of them will get hauled off on a stretcher, or preferably in a rubber bag.

And I predict the jury will be amazingly lenient in terms of criminal sentence or civil damages.

 

I wonder if an English person reading the "God Hates Fags" signs thinks this is all blown out of proportion for the church-led stop smoking campaign?