First Amendment Case

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First Amendment Supreme Court Case Snyder v. Phelps Fred Phelps, the founder of Westboro Baptist Church (1955) in Topeka Kansas, and his congregation believes that God kills American soldiers because The United States believes in open sexuality, mainly in America’s military. Westboro Baptist Church often reverts to the means of picketing, a peaceful, public way of petitioning. The most common place the church pickets at is at military funerals. In more than twenty years the church has picketed at nearly six-hundred military funerals. Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder was killed in active duty while in Iraq. The funeral was chosen to be in Lance Corporal Snyder’s hometown, Westminster, Maryland. The funeral date was public access due to the article being in the newspaper. Soon enough Fred Phelps read it and decided to get members of his church to go to Maryland and picket at Lance Corporal Snyder’s funeral. Fred Phelps and his members picketed in a public land adjacent to the funeral. Fred Phelps had informed the law enforcement beforehand and the police lead them through the steps to take for the picketing. Fred Phelps and his members held signs that read, “God Hates the USA,” “Thank God for 9/11,” “America is Doomed,” “Don’t Pray for the USA,” “Thank God for IEDs,” “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” “Pope in Hell,” “Priests Rape Boys,” “God Hates Fags,” “You’re Going to Hell,” and “God Hates You.” Lance Corporal Snyder’s father had seen the tops of the picketers’ signs when driving to his son’s funeral, but he didn’t realize what the signs had said read until watching the news broadcast later that evening. Snyder’s father brought civil suit against Westboro Church claiming compensatory and punitive damages, due to resulting in emotional distress, intrusion upon seclusion and civil conspiracy. ((2010, October) SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES SNYDER v. PHELPS

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