SCOTUS Hears Snyder v. Phelps Today

Oral arguments will be heard today by the Supreme Court in Snyder v. Phelps. While I do not agree with the actions of Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church, I believe a ruling in favor of the Snyder family would push us even farther and faster down a slippery slope toward extreme limits on our freedom of speech as protected by the First Amendment.

You probably know who Westboro Baptist Church is. They are the group that protests at many military funerals and are best known for their "God Hates Fags" signs. They also recently protested Comic-Con, which resulted in some pretty hilarious counter protests by conference attendees (video included below for your minute of laughter).

In this case, Westboro picketed the funeral of a fallen soldier. The Snyder family is claiming the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress. The tort requires that the defendant engage in (1) outrageous speech or conduct that (2) causes severe emotional distress to the plaintiff, and (3) the defendant intends to cause such distress, or is aware of a high probability that the speech or conduct will cause such distress.

That tort was held as being unconstitutionally vague when applied by public figures in Hustler v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988). A ruling in favor of Phelps would apply the same principle to private figures and could conceivably delay (and possibly prevent) similar torts applied in such cases as the infamous Muhammad cartoons, flag burning, or any speech or action that could remotely be considered offensive to someone.