The First Amendment

I am what you would call a true believer in the First Amendment. The right of free speech, to be able to speak our minds, is the cornerstone of our republic. It is a basic right. Without it, none of our other rights could exist.

That said, I have a hard time with the case of Albert Snyder vs. the Westboro Baptist Church.

The church, whose congregation seems to be limited to the twisted off-spring of Fred Phelps, who fashions himself to be some kind of man of God, had protested at the funeral of Snyder's son, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder in Westminister, Md.

I was there that day and had the opportunity to get yelled at members of his merry band, mostly his daughter. They were holding signs thanking God for dead soldiers. And it says something that that was the least offensive of their messages that morning.

They are a hate group. But personally, I think they are performance artists, making a mockery of religion by behaving like people who forgot to refill their lithium prescriptions. Nobody in their right mind would behave like these people.

Albert Snyder, who lives in York, sued and won a $5 million award in federal district court. The church appealed the case and won a reversal in the Fourth Circuit Court. Snyder appealed that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear the case.

Westboro, as far as I know, claims this is a simple First Amendment issue. Snyder, on the other hand, has claimed that their protest invaded his privacy and inflicted irreparable harm.

They are both right. I couldn't imagine attending a child's funeral and confronting the wingnuts from Westboro. Inflicting that kind of pain puts members of the church in league with American Nazis who march on synagogues or Klansmen who hold rallies on city hall steps.

Make no mistake, the language used by Westboro is hate speech.

Still, on its face, it is protected by the First Amendment. Having the freedom to express ourselves means having to accept that some of that speech will be abhorrent. There are some exclusions, the result of numerous court rulings. The classic exception, as defined by former Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, is yelling fire in a crowded theater.

Does Westboro's speech deserve an exception? That's the question the Supreme Court will have to decide.

It looks good for Snyder. This court, in a recent ruling, has granted free speech rights to corporations, equating the money they spend to influence elections with speech.

So who knows?

We all may be witness to a landmark case.