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Free speech for all

Originally published in the Frederick News-Post

Criminal Justice

by Marta Hummel Mossburg

OP-EDS

Fred Phelps and his tiny posse of demented family and church followers are getting their day in the nation's highest court today.

They are the ones who hold up signs outside fallen soldiers' funerals with messages including "God hates fags," "Semper fi fags" and "Thank God for dead soldiers." The first message is also the church's Web address.

The case before the Supreme Court today stems from a March 2006 protest by Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church members of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's funeral at St. John's Catholic Church in Westminster. Snyder's father sued Phelps and the Topeka, Kan., church in Baltimore for intentionally inflicting harm and invasion of privacy, initially winning $11 million. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court decision -- and outraged millions of people in a case that garnered national attention.

Fox News' Bill O'Reilly entered the fray. He told viewers he would pay the $16,000 in legal bills the court ordered Snyder to pay the Westboro church. Forty-two U.S. senators filed a brief in support of Snyder, including Maryland Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Benjamin Cardin.

It said that his family deserved the right to mourn the fallen Marine, who died in Iraq, in peace. "Respondents were and are free to convey their repugnant message in virtually any public manner they choose. But they were not free to hi-jack petitioners' private funeral as a vehicle for expression of their own hate."

Forty-eight attorneys general also filed a brief in support of Snyder.

Could all these people be wrong?

Yes.

The church's message -- that God kills soldiers because America tolerates homosexuality -- misinterprets the Bible and is sick on so many levels. Worse, by picketing soldiers' funerals around the country, they amplify coverage of their perverted viewpoint by garnering media attention at every stop. They visited North Hagerstown High School on Tuesday as part of their "I-70 Godsmack Tour" en route to Washington, where stops include Arlington National Cemetery and the Supreme Court.

But it does not mean that they should be prohibited from protesting. So long as church members stay off private property and obey state and local laws, they have the right to speak under the U.S. Constitution.

Not all speech is protected. Yelling "Fire!" in a crowded theater is not. Neither is threatening a public official, as Parkville resident Walter Abbott found out after e-mailing Gov. Martin O'Malley that he wanted to strangle him. He was convicted in 2008 of making a criminal threat.

But Westboro's message does not incite violence or a mass stampede that could lead to death. It no doubt causes emotional distress. But it should be protected for the same reasons the court said in 1977 that Nazis should be able to march in Skokie, Ill., home to many Jews.

Very few people would mind if Westboro members were silenced. But prohibiting them from speaking would open the door to regulating all speech deemed "hateful" by even the smallest group.

The best way to silence Phelps and his clan is to ignore them or to organize a counter protest like the one Tuesday in Hagerstown to promote alternate ideas. Freedom is best protected by allowing more speech, not silencing those who hold repellent views.

Marta Mossburg is a senior fellow at the Maryland Public Policy Institute. Contact her at mmossburg@mdpolicy.org.