Snyder Vs Phelps Case Study

Albert Snyder’s son, Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, was killed in a Humvee accident on March 3, 2006. Phelps heard about Matthew Snyder’s funeral and decided to head to Maryland with six other followers to picket. The Westboro Baptist Church picketed Lance Corporal Snyder’s funeral with signs that displayed sayings such as: “God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11,” “Thank God for IEDs,” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.” Before the members of the church arrived, they contacted local authorities to let them know about their protest. They staged themselves on public land that was parallel to a street, all the while agreeing and obeying that police officer’s orders. They showed their signs for about thirty minutes before the beginning of the funeral. Members of the church also sang songs and recited verses from the Bible. The picketers never stepped foot (they were about 1,000 feet away) on the church’s property (where the funeral was held) nor did they use profanity or

Recently the Ohio State University refused to rent campus space to white nationalist Richard Spencer so he could speak. While this is understandable considering the message that Spencer has been known to preach, the Ohio State University has been accused of denying Richard Spencer his first amendment right. An attorney for Ohio State told Spencer that while the University valued freedom of speech, the speach would cause a serious threat to public safety. Spencer’s response was a lawsuit against Ohio State University. Spencer had sued several other schools in the past as they wouldn’t allow him to speak and it appears that he has now sued Ohio State.

Barack Obama, President of the United States, is said to have delivered one of the most beautifully written and well-thought out speeches of his presidency. This speech, (or eulogy), is a result of the death of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, a man whose life was cut short under the hands of a white supremacist. Obama’s speech resonated so well with citizens because of the writing and the delivery altogether. Specifically, the internal workings of the speech were current with Reverend Pinckney’s principles and beliefs. The fortitude laced in his voice also contributed greatly to the effect the speech had on the people.

I chose the Snyder vs Phelps case and this being the first time listening in on a full Supreme Court hearing, a couple of things did surprise me. The first of which was how calm all the judges were. When the judges spoke, they had an air of confidence, especially the senior judges who barley seemed to stammer. Despite all of the technical words and references to other court rulings the overall tone did not seem as formal as I had imagined. Judge Charles Beyer seemed very lighthearted, with almost every comment he made followed by some laughter. Senior Judge Antonin Scalia even made a hysterical Quaker grandma joke. Before listening to the audio, I would not have believed that this came from a Supreme Court proceeding, let alone from one of

In the short period between the publication of the article and Craven’s death a few weeks later, the small-town newspaper made a big wave. The Laurel Leader-Call story received national attention, receiving praise from liberals and upsetting conservatives. Well-known news sources such as The Huffington Post and The Christian Post picked up the story from Leader Call and referred to it in their publications. The responses to the Leader-Call article, which poured in from around the nation, ranged from agreement with and support for Powell and Craven, to condemning the Leader-Call for covering the ceremony. The impact of the Leader-Call article was tremendous, as the story went national and revealed conflicting political and moral ideologies in the traditionally conservative state of Mississippi.

The Westboro Baptist Church is a group that has been in the spotlight for the last two decades because of their unusual tactic of picketing at soldier’s funerals. The act is motivated by the notion that America’s moral are being corrupted by their acceptance of homosexuality. The act of picketing of soldier’s funerals according to the group is motivated by the fact that it is a time when mourners are emotionally vulnerable and they think of their mortality. They believe that by picketing in soldier’s funerals their message is stronger. However, this tactic has caused much consternation from both the public and the government. In the interest of the public, state legislatures have enacted laws against the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church. The landmark case of Snyder v. Phelps would have been the deciding factor against the group, but the Supreme Court held in favor of the group because their actions were protected by the First Amendment. This then would present the notion that the First Amendment trumped public interest in the decision. However, that is not the case because the case was an IIED case among others, it was a personal one. As long as the group coordinates with public authorities and does not break laws, then their acts are nothing more than nuisances that should not get in the way of celebrating the life of the dead.

Roberts, Jr. (Gregory, Sean.) The court argued that the church was speaking on “matters of public concern” and not "matters of purely private significance. " Discussion on matters of public concern is protected by the first amendment. The court examined the content, context, and form of the speech, arguing that the messages being conveyed were not directed at Snyder, but about the U.S.’ stance on homosexuality (Facts and Case Summary). Phelps and his supporters had not been directly at the funeral, making the messages spoken about relating to the broad topic and not Snyder himself.

Westboro Baptist Church is from about a year ago, but it is still sad that they would protest at funerals of people who fought for them. Westboro Baptist Church Should be shut down and everyone that has ever had some type of connection with protesting at military funerals should be arrested. It should not be right for someone to say that god killed them because their country allows gays. If they understood freedom, and rights then they would not be protesting that “god hates gays” and “god killed soldiers for punishment of allowing gays”. This are the type of people who are ruining America for everyone else. America may be the land of the free, but it is not the home of protesters. Westboro is one of the many protesters but there are many other people out there in the world, ready to take down

Phelps (2011) in regards to what kind of speech should be protected under the 1st Amendment’s Free Speech Clause. While it is understandable that people are entitled to the freedom of speech, even with a buffer zone enabled, but I found compelling is in the content and impact the case permitted in the aftermath. Freedom of speech? Or fighting words? The United States has reviewed similar cases such as Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell (1988); the exception is the issue of the picket signs held by members of the Westboro Baptist Church, while protesting the funeral of a fallen soldier as a matter of public concern regarding whether or not to cause emotional distress to a grieving family as a matter of a debate, but an 8-1 ruling ensured that even hateful speech was protected. I find it hard to believe that there was little to nothing SCOTUS would list as a constituting a compromise for both sides and how the majority claimed that Snyder’s right to privacy was not infringed upon—with only Justice Antonin Scalia dissenting, claiming that “in order to have a society in which public issues can be openly and vigorously debated, it is not necessary to allow the brutalization of innocent victims.” As such, the Supreme Court’s ruling on this case led to a vulnerability in similar civil liberties: what

In the beginning of this article, Rosenbaum relies on the appeal of emotion, pathos, to persuade his audience to agree with his claim. He tries to achieve this by telling a story of a church group picketing the funeral of a gay marine. He states, “The Supreme Court upheld the right of a church group opposed to gays serving in the military to picket the funeral of a dead marine with signs that read ‘God Hates Fags’ ” (Rosenbaum). This event caused an uproar and disrupted the peace of a marines’ funeral. Many people began to question the limits of free speech because of this. How can people use hateful speech such as

He considers the fact that he is a columnist for Fox News and assumes the readers of his personal website are of the same audience—conservative Americans. Starnes anticipates the offended reaction of his readers to the teacher’s letter and employs such rhetorical strategies to ensure his audience’s attention and support. In response to the teacher’s letter, he concludes that “Jesus is not welcome” in her classroom, which successfully evokes anger from a Christian audience. He praises the parent who took a stand and thanks the school district for righting wrongs to grant a sense of pride and satisfaction to the reader. Starnes also shares with the audience of his personal experience; that when he was in grade school his classmates would “invoke the Good Lord’s name—usually just before an exam” (Starnes). Through this, Starnes builds a more personal connection with the reader in an effort that he or she may agree with him on the issue oppression of religion. He closes his article by denouncing how schools have become “public indoctrination centers” for far left activists, exposing how “words like ‘Jesus’ are banned, but words like ‘gender fluid’ are celebrated” (Starnes). His examination of the public’s ways of being tolerant exposes the wrongs executed by those who seek toleration. He delivers a call to arms and urges his readers to take a stand for their Constitutional

The Phelps family belongs to a church, called Westboro, which is known to frequently picket funerals, and has done

In May 1993, Bill Hicks's Revelations show was broadcasted on television in the UK. A priest, "deeply offended by its blasphemous content," wrote to the broadcaster and complained about it. Therefore, Bill Hicks wrote this informal letter directly back to the priest. I really enjoyed reading this letter because it was sarcastic, which made it entertaining, and to the point. The tone of this letter was defensive but respectful, and I think that was a good way to construct this letter. Bill Hicks kept repeating the phrase 'freedom of speech' to emphasize that not everyone has the same opinions but everyone has the right to say them. I completely agree with everything Bill Hicks stated in this letter and that's another reason why I enjoyed it

I did some research and what keeps coming up is the U.S. Marine Matthew Snyder. The church protested his funeral and it sparked tremendous outrage amongst a lot of people. What is sad is that the court ruled that the protesters were protected under free speech. The ruling was an 8-1 and was won by a land slide in the churches favor. This blew me out of the water reading that Chief Justice John Roberts stated that "Whether the First Amendment prohibits holding Westboro liable for its speech in this case turns largely on whether that speech is of public or private concern." And in this specific case, the judges determined the words on Westboro’s signs indeed dealt with “matters of public import” (Gregory 2011). Free speech is a beautiful thing, but when you want to basically shit on someone’s funeral especially when that person fought for your freedom is wrong in my eyes and there should be bans for protesters on certain occasions. Private matters should be only the family and others not a huge mob of people ragging on soldiers and other situations. I am not a soldier and it made me mad that these people would basically slander this man who died to fight for

In 1963, four children were killed in the bombing of Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Martin Luther King and Eugene Patterson both delivered eulogies after the deaths of Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Cynthia Diane Wesley, and Carole Robertson. The death of these children were not in vain. They aided Congress to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Both eulogies have sentiments of hope and responsibility and use repetition.