Editing Westboro Baptist Church (section)

===Supreme Court case===
On March 10, 2006, WBC picketed the funeral of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine Marine] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Corporal Lance Corporal] Matthew A. Snyder in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminister,_Maryland Westminister, Maryland]<ref>[https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/facts-and-case-summary-snyder-v-phelps Facts and Case Summary - ''Snyder v. Phelps''], United States Courts</ref>. The picket was held in a location cordoned off by the police, approximately 1,000 feet (300 m) from the Church, for about 30 minutes before the funeral began. On June 5, 2006, the Snyder family sued for defamation, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit named Albert Snyder, Matthew Snyder's father, as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaintiff plaintiff] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps Fred W. Phelps], Sr.; Westboro Baptist Church, Inc.; Rebekah Phelps-Davis; and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Phelps-Roper Shirley Phelps-Roper] as defendants, alleging that they were responsible for publishing defamatory information about the Snyder family on the Internet, including statements that Albert and his wife had "raised [Matthew] for the devil" and taught him "to defy his Creator, to divorce, and to commit adultery". Other statements denounced them for raising their son Catholic. Snyder further complained the defendants had intruded upon and staged protests at his son's funeral. The claims of invasion of privacy and defamation arising from comments posted about Snyder on the Westboro website were dismissed on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution First Amendment] grounds, but the case proceeded to trial on the remaining three counts.<span style="font-size:11px;line-height:0px;"> </span>At the trial, Albert Snyder testified:
They turned this funeral into a media circus and they wanted to hurt my family. They wanted their message heard and they didn't care who they stepped over. My son should have been buried with dignity, not with a bunch of clowns outside.<span style="font-size:11px;line-height:0px;"> </span>In his instructions to the jury, U.S. District Judge [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_D._Bennett Richard D. Bennett] stated that the First Amendment protection of free speech has limits, including vulgar, offensive and shocking statements, and that the jury must decide "whether the defendant's actions would be highly offensive to a reasonable person, whether they were extreme and outrageous and whether these actions were so offensive and shocking as to not be entitled to First Amendment protection".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-117">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church#cite_note-117 [117]]</sup> See also [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaplinsky_v._New_Hampshire Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire], a case where certain personal slurs and obscene utterances by an individual were found unworthy of First Amendment protection, due to the potential for violence resulting from their utterance.

On October 31, 2007, WBC, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps Fred Phelps] and his two daughters, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Phelps-Roper Shirley Phelps-Roper] and Rebecca Phelps-Davis, were found liable for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. A federal jury awarded Snyder $2.9 million in compensatory damages, then later added a decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and an additional $2 million for causing emotional distress (a total of $10,900,000). The organization said it would not change its message because of the verdict.<span style="font-size:11px;line-height:0px;"> </span>WBC said that it was thankful for the verdict, but also unsuccessfully sought a mistrial (based on alleged prejudicial statements made by the judge and violations of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gag_order gag order] by the plaintiff's attorney) and also filed an appeal.

On February 4, 2008, U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett upheld the ruling, but reduced the punitive damages from $8 million to $2.1 million, bringing the total judgment to $5 million. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lien Liens] were ordered on church buildings and Phelps' law office in an attempt to ensure that the damages would be paid.

On September 24, 2009, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of Westboro Baptist Church and reversed the lower court's award. It found their picket near the funeral is protected speech because it involves "matters of public concern, including the issues of homosexuals in the military, the sex-abuse scandal within the Catholic Church, and the political and moral conduct of the United States and its citizens", and did not violate the privacy of the service member's family. On March 30, 2010, the appeals court ordered Albert Snyder to pay the church's court costs of over $16,000, a move that Snyder's attorney's referred to as "adding insult to injury". The decision has led to nationwide support for Snyder, with over 3,000 promises for donations to help offset the cost; [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pundit_%28expert%29 political commentator] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_O%27Reilly_%28political_commentator%29 Bill O'Reilly] offered to pay the entire amount of the costs on March 30. The American Legion has also raised $17,000 to help pay Snyder's court costs.

On March 8, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court granted [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certiorari certiorari] in ''Snyder v. Phelps'', (Docket No. 09-751, March 8, 2010). On May 28, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Majority_Leader Senate Majority Leader] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Reid Harry Reid], joined by 42 other Senators, filed an ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amicus_curiae amicus]'' brief in support of Snyder with the Supreme Court. On June 1, Kansas Attorney General [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Six Stephen Six] filed a separate brief supporting Snyder. This brief was joined by the Attorneys General of 47 other states and the District of Columbia, with Maine and Virginia being the two exceptions. Several news and civil rights organizations filed [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amicus_curiae amicus briefs] in support of Phelps, including the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union American Civil Liberties Union], the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reporters_Committee_for_Freedom_of_the_Press Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press], and twenty one other media organizations.

In an 8–1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Phelps on March 2, 2011. Chief Justice [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Roberts John Roberts] wrote the majority opinion stating: "What Westboro said, in the whole context of how and where it chose to say it, is entitled to 'special protection' under the First Amendment and that protection cannot be overcome by a jury finding that the picketing was outrageous." Justice [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Alito Samuel Alito], the lone dissenter, said Snyder wanted only to "bury his son in peace". Instead, Alito said, the protesters "brutally attacked" Matthew Snyder to attract public attention. "Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case," he said.