The Westboro Baptist Church, America's favorite hate organization, is coming to central Pennsylvania to stage one of their protests at the funeral of seven children tragically killed in a fire in Perry County. I think this is a good opportunity to talk about freedom of speech.
First, all the necessary caveats. These people are crazy, cruel publicity whores. The things they say are awful, and the venues they choose for their protests make it even more despicable.
Nonetheless, this seems akin to the Skokie Affair. If you believe in free speech, you have to support the right of these people to have their protests. Following on my post about gun rights, this is exactly the kind of thing you have to be okay with if you want to interpret the Bill of Rights in the widest, most all encompassing way. The Supreme Court agrees with me, with the notable exception of sole dissenter Justice Alito, who apparently hates freedom.
I was extremely pleased with the Court's decision in Snyder v. Phelps. I view this as one more case limiting the "fighting words" exception to the First Amendment that was immortalized by the Supreme Court in 1942 in Chapinsky v. New Hampshire. I'll reiterate a point that is made all the time by advocates of free speech. People saying popular things don't need the protection of the First Amendment. Nobody tries to restrict popular speech. The people saying controversial, unpopular or offensive things are the people most in need of protection.
Keep in mind, any time you allow yourself to believe that some things are so offensive that they don't warrant protection, you are implicitly accepting the right of other people to decide that you aren't protected by the First Amendment if you say something that people don't like. The censorious impulse must be limited.
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