Supreme Court Case: Snyder Vs Phelps

The Court ruled in favor of the appellant, and the decision is described as follows:

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

Albert Snyder, Matthew Snyder’s father could see the tops of the signs at the funeral however could not read what they said. He learned about the content of the signs via the news and proceeded to sue the church under the claim that it caused him sever emotional destress. Fred Phelps argued that Westboro Baptist Church was protected by the First Amendment which deals with Free Speech.

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

Snyder v. Phelps case is about the protest of Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) supporters at the funeral of Albert Snyder’s son protested against the acceptance of homosexuality by the US (Facts and Case Summary - Snyder v. Phelps). They showed different anti-gay signs targeting many people. Albert Snyder then sued the demonstrators by saying that these signs caused him anxiety, sorrow and pain. The Court didn’t protect Albert Snyder because they say that the demonstrators were protesting against society as a whole and not against his son. They also add that the signs shown on protest were protected under the First Amendment and told Snyder that if he continues this case he will have to pay a large amount of money to the church. In this case the main problem is whether the protesters have the right to protest at funerals of soldiers against homosexuality. In this policy memo, based on the concepts of equity, freedom of speech and liberty three main alternative solutions will be considered to this problem.

In the R.A.V v. City of St. Paul case, a white teenager was arrested for burning a cross in the lawn of the only black family in the neighborhood. According to the state, this was in violation of a 1989 city ordinance making it a crime to place on public or public property a burning cross, swastika, or other symbol likely to arouse "anger, alarm, or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, and gender." In this case, a higher court decided that R.A.V’s first amendments were violated because the state was punishing expression. The ordinance didn’t simply make burning a cross illegal, but instead made the expression associated with this act illegal, which the court considered a violation of freedom of speech under the First Amendment.

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.

In the infamous Dred Scott V. Sandford case, in 1857, the Supreme Court upheld that no one of the African American race has the ability to sue any United States federal court. Chief Justice Taney ruled that African Americans were "chattel" and had no rights under a "white man's government". Furthermore, the Missouri Compromise was affirmed unconstitutional, because the Congress does not have the power to ban slavery in the Western Territories. Sandford was favored by the Supreme Court, which gave slave owners the right of property, in the Fifth Amendment, including slaves who were bought and sold like property.

Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S. 433 (2011), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that speech on a public sidewalk about a public issue cannot be liable for tort or emotional distress, even if the speech is found to be outrageous and offensive.

In the beginning of this article, Rosenbaum relies on the appeal of emotion, pathos, to persuade his audience to agree with his claim. He tries to achieve this by telling a story of a church group picketing the funeral of a gay marine. He states, “The Supreme Court upheld the right of a church group opposed to gays serving in the military to picket the funeral of a dead marine with signs that read ‘God Hates Fags’ ” (Rosenbaum). This event caused an uproar and disrupted the peace of a marines’ funeral. Many people began to question the limits of free speech because of this. How can people use hateful speech such as

“At what point do we take personal attacks, and permit those, as opposed to -- I fully accept you’re entitled, in some circumstances, to speak about any political issue you want. But where is the line between doing that, and creating hardship for an individual?” –Justice Sonia Sotomayor. In the case of Snyder V. Phelps, Two very passionate sides debated just that. The Snyder family accused Phelps, or Westboro, of the tort claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress, after Westboro picketed Phelps’ son’s funeral. Westboro disputed this, claiming their protests were protected under The First Amendment.

Propaganda is in use practically everywhere and has been for hundreds of years. Various forms of propaganda has been used throughout history to effectively relay different messages, such as positive messages or harmful, discriminatory messages. However, all forms of propaganda are utilized with the same intent -- to alter public perceptions into the initiator’s beliefs. Propaganda can vary from being an innocent company slogan, such as Apple’s “Think Different”, to the crucial factor that determines the difference between winning and losing a war.

As hate crimes have risen in number during the past five years; many state governments have attempted to prevent such crimes by passing laws called bias laws. These laws make a crime that is motivated by hatred based on the victim’s race, religion, ethnic background, or sexual orientation a more serious crime than such an act would ordinarily be. Many people believe that these laws violate the criminal’s freedom of speech. Many hate group members say that freedom of speech is the right to say or write or publish one’s thoughts, or to express one’s self, they also say that this right is guaranteed to all Americans. But people and organizations who are against these hate groups ask themselves if the first amendment include and protect all form of expression, even those that ugly or hurtful like the burning crosses. The Supreme Court Justices have decided that some kinds of speech are not protected by the Constitution,

Second amendment rights are a controversial subject, but in her article, “A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun,” Linda M. Hasselstrom explains why those rights are important to her. Hasselstrom uses logos, pathos, and ethos to entertain readers and to inform them of why she carries a gun.

Ancient Greek stands in an important position in the art history. Ancient Greek art proper emerged during the eigth century BCE. Classical and Hellenistic period are the most impressive eras of Greece. There are many values of Greek 's culture become the fundamental tenets of today 's western civilization. Greeks created the concept of democracy and make a huge contributions in the fields of science, literature and art. Ancient Greece 's art and architecture also have a strong influential to western society. Moreover, the Greeks made their gods into humans and their humans into gods. The perfect individual became the Greek ideal and the portrayal of beautiful humans became the focus of many of the greatest Greek artists. Greek ideal is one of the most important cultures of Greece and it also has a great influence of Greek religion, philosophy and society. The art work of Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Period have shown that Greek has achieved their lofty goals in many aspects of their civilization.