Hello class, I hope everyone is having a good week. To begin, I was confused as to why someone would protest at a funeral. That seemed very insensitive to the family and friends of the funeral which made me interested to see what was really going on behind this unrest. After reading the first paragraph I came to see that this is an ongoing thing where Westboro Baptist Church pickets military funerals to protest the fact that the United States “tolerates” homosexuality. Although the protest was “peaceful” the signs displayed were very hurtful in my opinion. This leads to “Snyder filing a diversity action against Phelps, his daughterswho participated in the picketingand the church (collectively Westboro) alleging, as relevant here, state tort claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress, intrusion upon seclusion, and civil conspiracy.” (Snyder v. Phelps, 2011). A jury chose the side of Snyder and held the church responsible for millions in punitive damages. Naturally, Westboro Baptist disputed saying that their signs were all protected by the First Amendment and the Fourth Circuit reversed the decision in favor of Westboro due to the them deeming that the statements were of public concern and not private matters. “Westboros choice of where and when to conduct its picketing is not beyond the Governments regulatory reachit is subject to reasonable time, place, or manner restrictions.
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