Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Westboro Baptist Church

The Supreme Court Wednesday sided with the Westboro Baptist Church, the notorious anti-gay group best known for picketing the funerals of soldiers and public figures with signs that read “God Hates Fags.”

In an 8-1 vote, the Court’s Justices ruled that the church’s funeral demonstrations are entitled to first amendment protection. Justice Samuel Alito was the sole dissenter.

The case was brought to the Supreme Court after a jury in Maryland ruled that the church had to pay millions in emotional damages to the Snyder family, after the church protested outside of the funeral of their son, a soldier who died in Iraq. The church appealed the decision on the grounds that the speech was political in nature, and thus constitutionally protected.

In the opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court concluded that the  speech was a matter of public concern, despite the demonstration’s proximity to a private funeral.

“The ‘content’ of Westboro’s signs plainly relates to broad issues of interest to society at large, rather than matters of ‘purely private concern,’” the opinion reads. “The issues they highlight—the political and moral conduct of the United States and its citizens, the fate of our Nation, homosexuality in the military, and scandals involving the Catholic clergy—are matters of public import.” “Westboro conducted its picketing peacefully on matters of public concern at a public place adjacent to a public street,” Roberts wrote, and therefore the protest is protected by the First Amendment.

The opinion goes on to note that the Court does not believe the protest constituted a personal attack against the family, since “There was no pre-existing relationship or conflict between Westboro and [the family] that might suggest Westboro’s speech on public matters was intended to mask an attack.”