Snyder V. Phelps Case Summary

Not affiliated with any southern baptist or general baptist churches, the thirty-nine member (The Journal) Westboro Baptist Church is primarily known for its continued protest against the LGBT community, the Catholic Church, and the military (Wikipedia). The westboro Baptist Church’s first public service was held on November 27, 1955(Wikipedia). This was the first time the church publicly condemned the world. Most recently the Westboro Baptist Church have agreed with the shooting at the Pulse Night Club in Orlando, Florida stating that God sent Omar Mateen to kill the gays because “God hates fags.” While other churches preach about loving one another as god has loved them, the westboro

The Westboro Baptist Church is a group that has been in the spotlight for the last two decades because of their unusual tactic of picketing at soldier’s funerals. The act is motivated by the notion that America’s moral are being corrupted by their acceptance of homosexuality. The act of picketing of soldier’s funerals according to the group is motivated by the fact that it is a time when mourners are emotionally vulnerable and they think of their mortality. They believe that by picketing in soldier’s funerals their message is stronger. However, this tactic has caused much consternation from both the public and the government. In the interest of the public, state legislatures have enacted laws against the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church. The landmark case of Snyder v. Phelps would have been the deciding factor against the group, but the Supreme Court held in favor of the group because their actions were protected by the First Amendment. This then would present the notion that the First Amendment trumped public interest in the decision. However, that is not the case because the case was an IIED case among others, it was a personal one. As long as the group coordinates with public authorities and does not break laws, then their acts are nothing more than nuisances that should not get in the way of celebrating the life of the dead.

Funeral protests have been an issue for years. During this most recent war, as soldiers were coming home to be laid to rest, Westboro Baptist Church made headlines by protesting at the funerals of fallen soldiers. During the services, members of the church would gather outside of many of the military funerals waving signs that had offensive messages on them such as, “God Hates You”, and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers”. The members of this church believe that the death of the soldiers is God’s punishment for the tolerance of homosexuality in the United States. Last year the U.S, Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protects these groups and any others who

Issues: Whether Westboro Baptists signs and comments during their protest at Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder’s Funeral were matters of public concern and protected under the First

Westboro Baptist Church is from about a year ago, but it is still sad that they would protest at funerals of people who fought for them. Westboro Baptist Church Should be shut down and everyone that has ever had some type of connection with protesting at military funerals should be arrested. It should not be right for someone to say that god killed them because their country allows gays. If they understood freedom, and rights then they would not be protesting that “god hates gays” and “god killed soldiers for punishment of allowing gays”. This are the type of people who are ruining America for everyone else. America may be the land of the free, but it is not the home of protesters. Westboro is one of the many protesters but there are many other people out there in the world, ready to take down

I chose the Snyder vs Phelps case and this being the first time listening in on a full Supreme Court hearing, a couple of things did surprise me. The first of which was how calm all the judges were. When the judges spoke, they had an air of confidence, especially the senior judges who barley seemed to stammer. Despite all of the technical words and references to other court rulings the overall tone did not seem as formal as I had imagined. Judge Charles Beyer seemed very lighthearted, with almost every comment he made followed by some laughter. Senior Judge Antonin Scalia even made a hysterical Quaker grandma joke. Before listening to the audio, I would not have believed that this came from a Supreme Court proceeding, let alone from one of

The Westboro Baptist Church has long been regarded in the media as a group filled with hate and detestation for virtually anyone who does not practice their teachings. In reality, the members of the Westboro Baptist Church hold a strong belief that the messages that are portrayed through their picketing and social media websites are actually acts of love that reveal the severity of the actions that most humans partake in. Most of the members were born into the Church and therefore believe that the words they proclaim are the absolute truth. Although most Americans do not agree with the teachings and practices that the Westboro Baptist Church preaches, it is important to learn about and try to understand the various aspects of the church in

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 decision in favor of Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church upholding the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; stating that the funeral was undisturbed by the protestors. The protestors were about 1,000 feet away on public land and the Snyder family could not see more than just the top of the protestors’ signs. There was no indication that the protest interfered with the funeral service itself. Phelps and the Westboro

In 2006, Matthew Snyder, a Marine Corporal was killed during combat in Iraq. Snyder’s family had made funeral arrangements at a Catholic church in their hometown of Westminster, Maryland. The time and location of this service was made public by local newspapers, thus being easily accessible by the public. Fred Phelps, the founder of Westboro Baptist Church located in Topeka, Kansas, was made aware of this service and chose to travel to Maryland to picket it with his two daughters and four grandchildren. The members of the WBC believe that God will forever despise and punish the United States for its lenience towards homosexuality, especially within the military. In order to ensure that their beliefs be known, Phelps and his members frequently

The limitations of first amendment protections are pretty clearly defined in a huge body of case law ranging from chief justice Holmes, “you can’t shout fire in a crowded theater” ruling in Schenk vs US in 1919 to the Snyder vs Phelps in 2015 , upholding the Westboro Baptist Church’s right to make homophobic statements in public.

Hate groups are known to protest against otherwise agreeable opinions through rallies and speeches. The Westboro Baptist Church is known for picketing funerals, however they have never physically assaulted the people they hate, even when argued with by opposing bystanders. What they do may seem immoral, but it is not a crime to express an opinion. Their opinions and those of other hate groups are protected by the First Amendment which “should protect such expressions when they…do not present danger of an immediate breach of peace” (Attias). This was established in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) in which the

Michael’s political expressions illustrate his political activism in addressing a matter of public concern; thus, Michael’s activism commands the full protection of the First Amendment. Signs including “God hates fags”, “Thank God for dead soldiers”, and “God hates USA/ Thank God for 9/11” were held to be protected by the First Amendment because they were hyperbolic rhetoric addressing matters of public and political concern. Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S. 443 (2011). In Snyder, the Westboro Baptist Church held protests at a soldier’s funeral service and displayed signs as described above. Id. The repulsive speech was protected nonetheless because it was not done in an unlawful manner and because the content of the speech contained a political viewpoint. Id. The time and place of Westboro’s political expressions did not allow for the State to deny Westboro the protection of the First Amendment simply because the content of the speech was hideous to most. Id.

I believe with the court's decision that Westboro Church won. Because they peacefully protested on public land and addressed that they were planning to protest to the police. They used public views by a large society, that had no threatful words used towards Snyder’s family. Westboro peacefully addressed matters of public concern on public land. Because the First Amendment protects the freedom of speech I have to agree with the court's decision. On the Oyez website Robert mentions, “ As a nation, we have chosen a different course to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.” I have to agree to what Robert said because even though someone disagrees with someone's speech doesn’t mean they have

During the opinion announcement of Snyder v. Phelps John G. Roberts Jr mentions that the Westboro Baptist Church has been picketing for the past 20 years to communicate their views at military funerals. Because they believe God hates and punishes the united states for tolerance of homosexuality, especially in America's military According to Robert " The picketing took place on public land approximately 1,000 feet from the Catholic Church where the funeral was held.” Westboro Baptist Church used the first amendment to protect their freedom of speech. Robert also mentions if the speech was on public issues, then it would be entitled to a special protection. According to the opinion announcement on the Oyez website, “ The signs carried by the

hook - Imagine that someone puts up posters that a very offensive and critical of your religion, next to a place of worship for your religion. Well a man in Minneapolis put up some anti-Muslim posters near a mosque and a Somali-owned store. The store owner was planning on pressing charges but the prosecutors dropped the charges because they were struck down saying that the posters were protected by the first amendment. Which I totally agree with in saying that someone should be able to put up religious images, even if it does offend someone.