On The Front Lines
Rutherford Institute Weighs in on Funeral Protest Case, Urges U.S. Supreme Court to Protect the Equality of Ideas in the Public Square
WASHINGTON, DC -- In a case that tests the limits of the First Amendment's protections for free speech, The Rutherford Institute has filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court in Snyder v. Phelps urging the Court to "protect the equality of ideas in the public square," even when those ideas may be disagreeable to society at large. At issue in the case is whether members of a Kansas-based Baptist church have a First Amendment right to air their opposition to policies and laws condoning homosexuality by staging peaceful protests during high-profile military funerals.
The Rutherford Institute's amicus brief in Snyder v. Phelps is available here.
"Robust free speech--even of the extreme variety--in the open marketplace of ideas is one of the few hopes we have as citizens, and it is something we must protect," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "As the great French dissident and writer Voltaire once observed, 'I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.' Or to extend what Judge K. Hall once observed about the Fourth Amendment to the First Amendment and its safeguards for free speech: 'One who would defend the Fourth Amendment must share his foxhole with scoundrels of every sort, but to abandon the post because of the poor company is to sell freedom cheaply. It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have often been forged in controversies involving not very nice people.'"
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), which was established by Fred Phelps Sr. in Topeka, Kansas in 1955, have increasingly staged public demonstrations in recent years in conjunction with relatively high-profile funerals, particularly military funerals, to assert their religious belief that God hates homosexuality and is punishing America for its tolerance of homosexuality.
In 2006, Albert Snyder sued Phelps, the church, and several church members for demonstrating near his son's military funeral in Maryland. Snyder's son Matthew, a Marine, was killed in Iraq on March 3, 2006. A subsequent trial in federal district court resulted in a jury verdict against WBC in the amount of $10.9 million, which was later reduced to $2.1 million by the court. On appeal, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court's ruling, holding that notwithstanding the distasteful and repugnant nature of the defendants' expression, it is constitutionally protected speech.
In urging the Supreme Court to protect the free speech rights of all Americans to engage in peaceful protest, no matter how disagreeable the nature or content of that protest may be, The Rutherford Institute pointed out that the members of the WBC "continue the historic American tradition of public protest on a matter of public concern in the most open forum--on a public street where the announced funeral and the activities of others participating in the event were part of a milieu of public expression." Furthermore, attorneys argue, the protest was entirely peaceful and in full compliance with all time, place and manner restrictions imposed by local authorities.
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