Court Weighs Limits on Speech

By: Jess Barvin
Wall Street Journal
October 7, 2010http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735804575536100092251276.html?KEYWORDS=Court+Weighs+Limits+on+Speech


This article is speaking about how the father of a Marine can sue the Westboro Bapstist Church for violation of privacy. The father claims that the religious group had a vulgar funeral for his son and for crude online attack. Mr. Snyder won five million dollar and a federal court threw out the ruling saying that the Church's speech was protected by the first amendment. Justice Ruth Bader stated the church's behavior was unjutifiable because their was other ways of sending their message across. Margie Phelps who is a lawyer and daughter of the leader of the Westboro Church says that Mr. Snyder invited a public dialogue with the church by commenting about a post about his son. Sean Simmon who is representing Mr. Snyder says that there should be a line drawn against public figures and private individuals who make insults.

The headline of the story did catch my attention because there have always been a problem with the law about when the first amendment rights should be limited. The Westboro Church should have not insulted the Mr. Snyder's son especially if it was about about his funeral. The story was news worthy because this can be anyone saying their opinion and then all of a sudden it is a law suit. The sources in the articluded the father, the church, the daugther of the leader of the church. Most importanty it included the justices from the supreme court and Mr. Snyder's lawyer. The article might have needed to include a little more about Mr. Snyder's son. I wanted to know more about him. I selected this article because it was appealing and it was about a law. Usually issues affect certain types of people but a law affect everyone.