Tag Archives: First Amendment

Bereaved father Albert Snyder, who lost his Supreme Court battle with Westboro Baptist Church earlier this week, says that somebody is inevitably going to open fire on the Phelps family. “Something is going to happen,” Albert Snyder told CNN Thursday. “Somebody is going to get hurt.” “You have too many soldiers and Marines coming back with post-traumatic stress syndrome, and …

“This [Westboro] ruling is important for many reasons. First and foremost, it preserves the primacy of free speech in America, which benefits us all. But from a parochial pro-LGBT narrative, it’s equally important to note that it proves the lie to the multiple instances when anti-gay activists falsely claimed that advances in LGBT equality and protections — whether they come …

The Supreme Court today ruled 8-1 to overturn a $5M judgment against Westboro Baptist Church, saying that the First Amendment protects their right to picket the funerals of military members. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: “Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and– as it did here– inflict great …

Shortly after the passage of Proposition 8, Los Angeles City College student Jonathan Lopez was stopped by his public speaking professor as he attempted to deliver a speech against marriage equality. Lopez alleged that the professor called him a “fascist bastard” and told him to “ask God what your grade is.” He then won the right to sue the college …

Mama Grizzly don’t appear to understand the First Amendment, do she?

“Permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America, let alone the monstrosity planned for Ground Zero. This is for one simple reason: each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government. Each one is a potential jihadist recruitment and training center, and determined to implement the ‘Grand Jihad’ …

A Philadelphia federal jury has ruled unanimously that the city violated the First Amendment rights of the Boy Scouts when it used the group’s anti-gay policies in an attempt to evict them from their city-owned building. “We can’t be kicked out of the building or evicted and we don’t have to pay any rent,” Scouts’ attorney William M. McSwain said …

Twin Cities Pride is warring with the Minneapolis parks department over the decision to allow anti-gay activists on the grounds of their Pride festival, where the husband and wife team of Brian and Lois Johnson is expected to attempt to hand out bibles and shout about Jeebus. Festival organizers say they paid ten of thousands of dollars to secure the …

Almost all of the states have signed onto an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, asking that military funerals be protected from the likes of the Phelps clan. Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have submitted a brief to the Supreme Court in support of a father who sued anti-gay protesters over their demonstration at the 2006 funeral of …

A British preacher has been arrested and charged with causing “harassment, alarm, or distress” after he was overheard reciting a list of sins that included homosexuality. Dale McAlpine was taken into custody after a gay police liaison officer overheard him and summoned regular cops. The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Wokington, Cumbria for years, said he did not …

And the censors win. Last night Tarleton State University of Texas issued this brief press release: The four student-directed plays, including “Corpus Christi,” scheduled to be performed at Tarleton State University on Saturday, March 27, 2010, have been canceled this evening by the professor. The professor cited safety and security concerns for the students as well as the need to …

In advance of Ann Coulter’s speech tonight at the University of Ottawa, a school administrator has emailed her with a caution that she should remember that Canada’s laws about hate speech are much more restrictive than in the United States. Coulter says that was a hate crime and she is filing a complaint. Speaking to students and academics at the …

Westboro Baptist Church’s freedom of speech case is coming up in the Supreme Court. Tonight the pundits on Hardball discussed whether Westboro “should be shut down.”

A California court has ruled that a 15 year-old boy whose personal website was flooded with anti-gay threats can sue the classmates who made them. In a 2-1 ruling Monday, the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles said the violent language of the message – threatening to “rip out your … heart and feed it to you” and …

On January 15th the U.S. Supreme Court will decide if it will hear the appeal of Protect Marriage Washington over the decision to force the release of the names of those who signed Referendum 71. The court likely will announce later that day or the following Monday if it will take the R-71 petition case. If the court declines to …

A judge has struck down Los Angeles City College’s sexual harassment code, ruling that it violates the students’ right to free speech. Last fall a professor interrupted a student speaking in opposition to marriage equality, calling him a “fascist bastard.” When the student received his paper, the professor had written “Ask God what your grade is” on it. The professor …