It will be appealed and, perhaps overturned, but it's a good thing none-the-less.
""I think when speech is a matter of public concern it still has to be protected, even when by social standards it is extraordinarily rude and outrageous,"" said UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh."The law, untempered by common sense, is an ass.
You can bet that if people picketed Phelps and his brood they'd be in court in a minute, because those whose outrageous words are protected by law don't like the same protection extended to others.
(A biography of Fred Phelps is found here. Quite a few videos of his daughter and others of his clan are found on the net. Try YouTube. the family certainly appears to have 'issues'.)
(I missed this news item at the time: Fred Phelps' Daughter Shirley - Proud Self Proclaimed Fag Hating Mom In Jail. It asks a very good question.)
1 comment:
The concept of someone limiting the phelps clan's "freedom of speech" is laughable. They can hold marches, they can write letters, they can pontificate on the steps of city hall. They can spew their vitriol in any public forum they so choose.
However, as the saying goes "your right to swing your fist ends at my nose". A funeral is, it's nature, a private event, not a public one, and ensuing the suit was a civil one between two private parties, and by extension the government is in no way involved, nor was the first amendment. The lawsuit will likely be appealed and the monetary reward reduced, but I think the legal finding was sound and will stand. (Or so I truly hope)
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