Supreme Court to hear Wacko Baptist Church Lawsuit

[topspin]

you have to allow protest, otherwise where do you draw the line.

I'm fine with not arresting the hero they beats them silly, same at abortion clinic harrassment.

 

[Bill O'Olberman]

I believe that this is not free speech, it's harassment. I'm also pro-life, but I don't believe in getting in the face of women going to abortion clinics.

There seems to be some kind of mental image where the WBC idiots were interrupting funerals mid eulogy screaming "God hates fag," etc and not allowing the family to have a peaceful funeral. This is simply not the case.

 

[goldcatt]

I believe that this is not free speech, it's harassment. I'm also pro-life, but I don't believe in getting in the face of women going to abortion clinics.

There seems to be some kind of mental image where the WBC idiots were interrupting funerals mid eulogy screaming "God hates fag," etc and not allowing the family to have a peaceful funeral. This is simply not the case.

Not in this case, no. Where they are allowed to stand right outside the church with bullhorns it's a different story. But that didn't happen at Matthew Snyder's funeral, and the Court can only decide the case in front of it. Unfortunately, the decision they reach has effects that reach far beyond that case. And there are multiple serious issues here. Did the 4th Circuit correctly apply Cantwell, for instance? Was it correct in its assertion that the District Court gave a determination of law to the jury in its instructions, and therefore erred? Were they correct to dismiss the public vs. private nature of the speech and focus on the type of speech instead? And was the concurrence correct to take the legal sufficiency of the evidence into consideration even though it was only brought up in an amicus brief?

Lots of issues here, but I would hope the Court decides this as narrowly as possible and IMO the 4th's conclusion was ultimately correct.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

yes. but one could make the same claim about the anti-choice extremists who harass women entering abortion clinics.... not that i'd mind those people having to leave women alone...

as much as i find the WBC intolerable on a personal level and think anyone who does what they do deserves a major arse-kicking... i think i'd err on the side of freedom of speech. it's too easy to extrapolate out to everything else that vexes us.

I absolutely would make the same case about the pro-lifers.... and I'm pro-life. I think what they do to women entering abortion clinics is disgraceful. I too would like them to leave those women alone. Their right to free speech does not include the right to harass anyone.

But you're okay with burning korans to harass muslims?

What I do on my property with my koran is my business. If I go to a muslim church thursday night and stand out in front of their place and do it, that is just rude and uncalled for. That would be harassment. But at my place on my time, that is my business. And muslims have no call to interfere with that.