Church's Right to Hold Anti-Gay Protest at a Funeral

In the initial post of this blog I shall be introducing and summarizing an article.  I shall also explain why I think this article is relevant to U.S. government and politics and why I think it is worth reading to anyone who deems themself informed.

This article and corresponding blog post deals primarily with the First Amendment rights and the judicial branch of the U.S. government.  It centers around an anti-gay protest held during a funeral.

In summary, Westboro Baptist Church in Westboro, Kansas was under fire for allowing anti-gay protests at the funerals of U.S. military members.  The family of the deceased sued the church in response.  At one end of the conflict, grieving families felt as if their privacy had been invaded and emotional distress had been inflicted intentionally by the protesters.  On the other hand, the protesters (members of the Westboro Baptist Church) felt as if their First Amendment rights were being infringed upon due to the suit.  At first in 2007, the courts ruled in favor of the family citing intentional causal of emotion distress, civil conspiracy, and invasion of privacy.  In 2008, a federal appeals court reversed the original ruling.  This court sided with the church's claim of violation of the First Amendment.  The U.S. Supreme Court also ruled in favor of the church (8-1).

This article is very relevant to U.S. government because since this nations inception there has always been a battle between interpretation of the First Amendment and what rights are actually given to Americans.  Also, precedence on specific "laws designed to protect the 'sanctity and dignity of memorial and funeral services' " hanged in the balance.  Indirectly, gay rights stood to gain substantial ground in their movement if the family were to win this case.  Any sort of anti-gay protest case could look to this case and claim precedence.