Westboro Baptist Church

Extremists Group in America

First Amendment rights are guaranteed to all American citizens, but free speech issues are testing Constitutional boundaries. These issues have been raised by the recent activities of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), based out of Topeka Kansas. This radical group is well known for their hatred toward homosexuals. The WBC has gained national attention over the last two decades with their offensive demonstrations particularly by protesting funeral of soldiers who have been killed in Afghanistan/Iraq wars. However, despite their offensive demonstrations, its members appear to be within their First Amendment rights.

Here is some insight information on the WBC. The WBC group is not affiliated with any Baptist organization the Westboro church was founded by Pastor Fred Phelps, in 1955, and is largely compromised by his extended family. An important aspect of his church is that Fred Phelps along with many of his family members, also a part of this church, are in the court system, attorneys or lawyers. Shirley Phelps, has become the face of the Westboro Baptist Church, she is a practicing attorney, and utilizes this knowledge to provide WBC with legal counsel and to fight for their First Amendment rights. The views of the Phelps family and their followers have caused national controversy. The church denounces homosexuality and this as a basis for many of their protests. They express these viewpoints on their main webpage www.godhatesfags.com displaying their picketing schedule in the U.S. and in other countries by led by the Phelps family. The website also displays WBC members with signs saying "God Hates Fag", "God Hates the USA" and, "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" which are highlighted on their website (Westboro Website). The most substantial legal proceeding involving the Westboro Baptist is the case of Snyder vs Phelps. In 2006, Albert Snyder sued the Phelps family on for namely intrusion and intentional infliction of emotional distress (Snyder vs Phelps). Snyder's son Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, died in combat in Iraq and was brought home for burial in Maryland. The WBC demonstrated outside the funeral procession hold their offensive signs "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "They Turned America in Fags" among many other. Albert Snyder decided to file a lawsuit against the Westboro Baptist Church, citing it was a breach of his family's right.

The Phelps family makes their case that they have every constitutional right to express their views, while Snyder argues that the WBC crossed the line. He believe that the Phelps exercised their rights at their own expense, and the therefore their actions should not be protected under the First Amendment. Certainly an interesting fine line to consider, but it seems as though the Westboro Baptist Church has the Constitutional right on their side. Just as other extremist groups like the KKK or White Supremacist have the right to assemble and express their views to the public, so do the members of the Westboro Baptist Church. While their message is thought by most to be morality wrong, this does not make their actions unconstitutional. Many articles have been written on the Westboro Baptist Church. An article titled "A funeral for free speech?" by David Hudson and Ronald Collins, both argue that freedom of speech should be upheld even in the instance of funeral protest. They write "even if the messages of the funeral protesters are offensive, one of the core purposes of the First Amendment is to protect offensive, obnoxious, and even hate speech (Hudson & Collins).

In 2007, a jury reached a decision in the Snyder vs Phelps case, and ruled in favor of Snyder and was award 10.9 million in damages, 2.9 million in compensatory and 8 million for punitive damages. The Phelps immediately appealed the court decision and a drawn-out legal battle began. In 2008, an appeals court reduced the 8 million award to 2.1 million, citing the 8 million dollar award was too excessive (Snyder vs Phelps). In September 2009, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals