After members of the Westboro Baptist Church, Kansas mounted a protest at the Maryland funeral service of Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, who was killed in 2006 while serving as a marine in Iraq, his father, Albert Snyder, sued them for emotional distress. But the jury-awarded damages of $11m were overturned on appeal in a federal court.
That court ruled that the church's members, who had held placards with slogans such as "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "You're Going to Hell" and had chanted anti-gay slurs, also attacking the Catholic church, were protected by the free speech rights enshrined in the first amendment of the US constitution.
Now the supreme court is hearing the arguments and is set to rule on the case. So, do you come down on the side of free speech, no matter how offensive some may find any given utterance, or should some restraint apply where the funerals or memorial services for fallen soldiers are concerned?
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