Supreme Court rules in favor of Westboro protesters

I also predict signs saying, "God hates assholes" at Freddie's funeral. Maybe even "God hates fags" since I'm convinced ol' Freddie had an, um, experience that's made him feel guilty.

 

People counterprotest all the time. That's *exactly* what they want. more attention.

 

Get a good attorney who can make the use of ball bats an object of expression rather than a weapon.

Or, seal these people off from any media exposure.

The media is the first to make them relevant.

 

I am gland to see these turds aren't guilty of diluting the Constitution.

 

I'm all for free speech but there's still a part of me that wishes the courts would tell these Westboro fucks to shut the fuck up and go away.
My hometown handled them as well if not better than anyone else. They came to protest at the funeral of a soldier who at the time was the highest-ranking officer killed in action in Iraq. The city allowed them to protest but put them about 50 yards down the street from the church and the way the entrance to the church was situated it would have been hard for those entering and leaving to see the protestors — and they could go to the fellowship hall afterward without having to step outside and smell the noxiousness wafting down Main Street from the handful of Westboro thugs and their signs. And they ought to be charged with child abuse — they put their kids, I mean their little kids, like 4 and 5 years old, out in the street holding up signs and yelling right along, putting them in grave danger should there be an altercation.
They are to provoke and then sue the corresponding government for every last dime for not protecting their rights.

 

Somebody (OK, it was Michael Savage) frequently says that the First Amendment is not there to protect polite speech, that polite speech does not need protection.
The First Amendment is there to protect the kind of speech people find repulsive.

Anyone agree?

 

The group had planned to protest in my hometown when a guy who was a few years younger than me died in Iraq. I think some of them made it to my hometown but weren't allowed near the high school or the cemetery to protest, so they called off the dogs and went home.

 

That's about the most logical quote I've read from him.

 

Not exactly, but he's on the right track.

I think you protect the repulsive speech so that your "polite" speech is also protected.

At its core, the purpose 20th Century version of the First Amendment is to keep the government out of snooping into content. Things like Westboro and flag-burning are just collateral damage.

Some true originalists only think the 1st Am. applies to prior restraint, though.

 

My favorite story regarding these guys comes from McAlester, OK, where someone slashed their tires. Every single shop in town refused to fix their flats/sell them new tires.

 

I'm a registered member with the Patriot Guard Riders, but have never actually participated in a funeral because these bozos have never shown up anywhere in our area. They've claimed to be coming, but always back out. The PGR do many funerals whether or not WBC shows up, but I signed up with the group just in case they ever did. I'd like nothing better than to situate myself and my bike between them and something they were picketing, wearing my vest with "veteran" and flag patches while revving the motor to drown them out.

 

"We reserve the right to refuse service to assholes like you." </HamburgerTheMovie>