Phelps vs. Snyder, Research Paper Example

Phelps is the leader of a homophobic and anti-gay church known as the Westboro Baptist Church. They are against America’s increased tolerance for gay individuals and are often known for their remarks against the gay population in the US military. They often picket military funerals holding up signs that have messages such as “don’t pray for the US”, “thank God for 9/11” etc.They had notified the local authorities about their pending picket and had followed all the instructions set by the police. During their picket, they used public property adjacent to a public street.

Snyder A. was the father of Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder who had died in Iraq in 2006 during his tour of duty. He did not see the signs being held up by Phelps’ group but saw them later on when a news piece caught his attention later that day. Upon performing a Google search of the group that had picketed his son’s funeral, he found that they had posted material on their website that Albert Snyder (the plaintiff) and his ex-wife had raised their son a catholic and in the process” taught him to defy the creator”,” raised him for the devil”, “God was a liar” (Cowen, 504)

In response to these remarks, the plaintiff sued Phelps among others, for intentionally causing emotional distress, breach of privacy, defamation of character and civil conspiracy.Phelps maintained that he was well within his rights under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment of the constitution as well as the material he aired was public concern

Issues under the Courts

• Does the First Amendment fully cover the defendant from liability of a tort?
• Was the material an opinion aired public concern?
• Were the opinions entitled to the protection of the first amendment?

Court’s Decision

The courts had originally ruled in favour of the plaintiff, and the jury had awarded damages to the tune of 10.9 million dollars. This was reduced by a lower court to 5 million dollars. However, upon appeal by Phelps’ church, the court of appeal of the fourth circuit ruled in their favour. They further ordered the plaintiff to pay legal fees of 17 thousand dollars.

Explanation

The court of appeal ruled the following:

• Since the material aired was on the moral implication and standards of the military, it was indeed an issue of public concern.
• There was no prior relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant hence there was no evidence of intentional infliction of emotional distress
• The Westboro Baptist Church did not breach privacy of the plaintiff because information about the deceased was found from the obituary. The material posted was proven the church’s opinion and not fact, about the plaintiff and as such was under the protection of the First amendment(Marietta, 231).

Opinion

While the courts ruled in favour of the defendant, there was uproar of the effects. Picketing in front of the plaintiff’s son’s funeral was in my opinion, a low blow. Furthermore, this was an insult to the memory of the plaintiff’s son as well as mocking because a man’s death. While the first Amendment protects the airing of opinions, it does not give individuals the right to insult others under the guise of public concern.

Even though Phelps won the suit, he should have undergone prosecution for discrimination as well as incitement to discriminate against the gay community.

Work cited

Cowen, Esek.Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court and in the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors of the State of New York, Volume 4. W. & A. Gould, 2012

Marietta, Morgan.A Citizen’s Guide to the Constitution and the Supreme Court: Constitutional Conflict in American Politics. New York. Routledge, 2013