Tag Archives: free speech
Nasty Free Speech
The creeps who protest at the funerals of dead soldiers appeared before the Supreme Court on Wednesday. They were sued by the father of Matthew Snyder, a marine whose funeral they picketed. The protesters are led by a preacher named Fred Phelps. Their beef is with homosexuality and they claim that dead soldiers are God’s punishment. The thing is, unless the Supreme Being files a brief, they may be well within their rights. A 1988 court ruling, Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, unanimously upheld the right to nasty speech unless it can be proven false.
USA Today has a complete story with video.
Political Speech
I’m kind of late with this one but wanted to get it in. The idea came from a George Will column.
President Don Rickles
President Rickles insulted members of his audience during last night’s state of the union speech. He criticized the Supreme Court, while some justices sat directly in front of him, for its ruling in favor of free speech in the Citizens United v. FEC case. Here’s a link to the Washington Post with a video clip of the moment, including Alito’s response. Here’s Jack Tapper at ABC giving a historian’s perspective.
