Supreme Court Westboro Decision Contains Interesting Footnote
The Supreme Court decision on Snyder vs. Phelps Snyder vs. Phelps et a. contains a very interesting footnote in the majority opinion written by Justice Roberts. The Court notes that not only did Westboro picket at the funeral for Matthew Snyder but they posted an item on their website called an “epic” where they specifically criticized Snyder’s parents for the job they did in raising him. Albert Snyder did see this internet posting but the Court mentioned that it specifically did not consider the internet posting in its decision because Snyder’s did not mention it in his petition for certiorari. However the Court makes the following footnote comment
Given the foregoing and the fact that an Internet posting may raise distinct issues in this context, we decline to consider the epic in deciding this case.
This appears to be a court hand signal that it is willing to consider that it is willing to consider the Internet as not equivalent to “public street” that is regulated by authorities. The decision goes to great lengths to point out that Westboro did get permits to protest and used public land to do so where it was reasonable that governmental authorities could enact restrictions.
This again makes that footnote comment very interesting. And by the way, Robert’s majority decision and Alito’s dissent are both extremely well written as far as SCOTUS writings go.