Supreme Courts and the West Borough Baptist Church

I have not blogged in nearly a year. So I guess it is fitting at this near anniversary that I should put fingers to the keyboard and see where this rant leads me.

This week, the Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church. Justice Samuel Alito was the lone dessenting vote. Many of us in America are outraged by this outcome. But should we be surprised by it? I, for one, was not and I will explain why.

We all know that the defense put forth by the Westborough Baptist church was on the grounds of free speech. The line put forth by the family of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder was concerning the pain and suffering the church caused them. Thus the line was drawn.

There was no way the Supreme Court was going to find for the Snyder family. Even though I believe that the justices might feel that what occurred was over "the line" the court did not want to decide where that line was. It is my belief that the court believes that the establishment of the line should be by the legislative branch no the judiciary. Had the Court ruled in favor of the Snyder family the flood gates would have been opened. Everyone who believed that they were wronged by free speech rights would have brought an immediate law suit in federal court. This would h ave over whelmed an already over whelmed system. But wait, the justices were sworn in promising to follow the constitution. In the end, that is exactly what they did. But you could not convince me that all 9 judges don't believe that Westboro Church is vile and needs to be reigned in. They, however, were not going to be the ones to do it while in the process placing more worked on an over worked system. We still have a lot of positions on the federal bench that remain unfilled because we have a congress that can't seem to get any work done.

But let's also look at the Westboro Baptist Church. Folks, this is not a church at all. They profess to be but what they are is a business. They are in the business of making money. How? You learn that the Westboro Baptist Church is coming to your town to demonstrate at a funeral of a fallen soldier. You are outraged. I would be outraged. That biker group Patriot Guard would be outraged. Now you have two groups converging on your fair town. A group of bikers hell bent on keeping the church group away from the funeral. Emotions run high. Cameras are rolling. News cameras and the cameras of the Westboro Baptist Church are rolling. There is an altercation between someone and one of the church members and it is all caught on tape. That is what the church wanted. Now they do not threaten to so the individual that started the altercation. They threaten to sue the city, town or county for not protecting them. They don't want to sue. They want to settle and so does the local government. So they settle for, oh lets say $100,000. Just what they wanted.

The church is not all lit up over America and gays. The church is lit up by dollar signs and if some reports are true it netted the Westboro Baptist Church over $1 million last year. To add insult t injury that is all tax free.

The best action is for each city, town, county and state to pass a law that they will be no demonstrations within 1000 feet of the entrance to the area where any funeral or burial is taking place. Oh, you can still have your free speech. But you can have it over there.