Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Protests at Military Funerals Are Protected Speech, Justices Rule

The Supreme Court decision to protect fundamentalist church members who mount anti-gay protests outside military funerals was rendered by Chief Justice John Roberts:
"Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and — as it did here — inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker," Roberts said. "As a nation we have chosen a different course — to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate."
Alito strongly disagreed. "Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case," he said.
Read the article here.

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