US SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON PROTESTS AT MILITARY FUNERALS

OFF THE WIRE
A group of patriotic motorcyclists recently staged a counter-demonstration during the Arlington National Cemetery burial of a local Navy SEAL, parking motorcycles and revving engines to oppose a protest staged by members of the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas.

Similar scenes play out across America, as a grieving family lays their loved one to rest, the funeral of a service member killed in action is disrupted by vocal protesters shouting vindictive and incendiary remarks at mourners and wave signs that read "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "God Hates the USA".

The motorcyclists, mostly veterans who are members of the Patriot Guard Riders, led the funeral procession and then strategically parked their bikes in between the family and the protesters and revved up their engines to drown their chanting, and saluted in respect as the funeral cortege passed by giving them a thumbs up.

The church protesters, who contend that God is killing members of the military because of the nation's sins, often demonstrate at military funerals, and are now the subjects of a United States Supreme Court case that will decide if the Constitution protects highly offensive hate speech from civil claims filed by grieving relatives.

In Snyder v. Phelps, the father of a Marine killed in Iraq in 2006 was awarded $5 million in his lawsuit against the church for “intentional infliction of emotional distress”, but a federal appeals court overturned the ruling on free speech grounds, and now Albert Snyder is asking the High Court to reinstate the verdict.

Justices heard oral arguments in the case on October 6th and the Supreme Court is expected to render a decision late next Spring.