About five months ago I posted a discussion about the case entitled Snyder v. Phelps. The case has finally been decided. And I said in that post, "No matter how the Supreme Court rules, there will be people who will bitterly protest the decision. And no matter which way the decision is, these protestors will have a valid point." I'm sure that this is going to be the case, now that Phelps won the case.
It's a very hard decision to evaluate. The church that Phelps heads is causing a lot of grief to people who are already grieving over the loss of their loved ones, and doing so by spreading nasty, homophobic remarks. One could easily wish they could be silenced. But there is also an important First Amendment issue, and eight of the nine Supreme Court Justices have decided that the First Amendment trumps Snyder's grief. I find it hard to take sides in this case, as I already said last October. And yet, the 8-1 margin seems to imply that the Court found it a relatively easy decision. Or did they? This is probably one of a very few cases which find Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito on opposite sides. Alito had been called "Scalito" by some who thought him to be a clone of Justice Antonin Scalia, but this case divided Alito from Scalia, as well.
As one who considers the First Amendment the most precious part of our whole Constitution, part of me cheers this decision. But another part of me is sympathetic with Justice Alito's dissent.
It's a very hard decision to evaluate. The church that Phelps heads is causing a lot of grief to people who are already grieving over the loss of their loved ones, and doing so by spreading nasty, homophobic remarks. One could easily wish they could be silenced. But there is also an important First Amendment issue, and eight of the nine Supreme Court Justices have decided that the First Amendment trumps Snyder's grief. I find it hard to take sides in this case, as I already said last October. And yet, the 8-1 margin seems to imply that the Court found it a relatively easy decision. Or did they? This is probably one of a very few cases which find Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito on opposite sides. Alito had been called "Scalito" by some who thought him to be a clone of Justice Antonin Scalia, but this case divided Alito from Scalia, as well.
As one who considers the First Amendment the most precious part of our whole Constitution, part of me cheers this decision. But another part of me is sympathetic with Justice Alito's dissent.
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