One of the neat features of blogging is that I get to see the searches that brought people here.
It recently occurred to me that I can wield this power for good or evil–good, if I choose to engage your questions, and provide useful information; or evil, if I should expose the bizarre and disturbing
In September, we wrote about Snyder v. Phelps, the funeral-picketing case out of the Fourth Circuit.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted cert in Snyder. The case is getting plenty of attention from the mainstream media, as well as some treatment on De Novo favorites SCOTUSblog, the Volokh Conspiracy (which had roughly
The Fourth Circuit hands down a new First Amendment decision today in Snyder v. Phelps. 
Snyder is an important case for more than purely doctrinal reasons. It involves the Westboro Baptist Church, a group noted their quaint habit of proselytizing at funerals. The Church sports a website whose address is literally so offensive that I can’t spell it out here, what with this being a family blog. Charming folks, and they seem to have caught the public’s attention. As a result of their activities, about 40 states and the federal government have adopted legislation addressing the picketing of funerals.
Facts
The facts of the case are pretty staggering. Westboro Baptist Church protested the funeral of Matthew Snyder, an enlisted Marine who died in the line of duty in Iraq. The Church showed up at his funeral (at a Catholic church) bearing signs saying things like “Pope in hell, “Thank God for IEDs,” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.” The Church also saw fit to post on its website an “epic,” a written piece further trumpeting its, err, message.
Snyder’s father sued, alleging five state-law tort claims: defamation, intrusion upon seclusion, publicity given to private life, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy. A jury found the defendants liable for $2.9 million in compensatory damages and a boatload of punitives, which were remitted to $2.1 million. The defendants appealed.Continue Reading Snyder v. Phelps: New First Amendment Opinion from the Fourth Circuit