Funeral pickets are constitutionally-protected speech, nation’s high court declares in 8-1 ruling. Justice Samuel Alito voted against Phelps. His voice is the only that speaks of decency.
“Respondents’ [Phelps'] outrageous conduct caused petitioner great injury, and the Court now compounds that injury by depriving petitioner of a judgment that acknowledges the wrong he suffered.
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 like petitioner. I therefore respectfully dissent.”
A society that fails to protect rituals and ceremonies surrounding death and burial is a society on the brink of collapse. This isn't about freedom of speech. This is about compassion for the mourners and dignity for the dead.
Thinking about ethics and current events (Began 1 April 2008)
While funeral pickets may be protected by freedom of speech -- as the majority of justices in the Supreme Court viewed this case -- people who are having a funeral should not be subject to pickets and name-calling by a heartless group of people.
ReplyDeleteHaving a peaceful funeral -- without a bunch of protesters outside -- should also be considered inalienable right of Americans.
The majority of the Supreme Court justices have shown their lack of compassion for mourners by agreeing that protesters have a right to insult them.
The ruling, in effect, does not mean that the Supreme Court favors democracy; it means that the Supreme Court favors anarchy by allowing people to do whatever they want to do.