Well Justice Alito, for tonight only.....I'll raise a glass to you !

[RagAss]

"Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case," Alito wrote in his dissent.

http/www.thirdage.com/news/alito-westboro-baptist-church-protests-not-protected-first-amendment_3-2-2011

[wtbymark]

1. one right doesn't make a 100 wrongs go away n/t

[RagAss]

2. one right...is still one right.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

3. Maybe not...

...but when someone does something right, why not praise it?

[spanone]

4. i don't want alito telling me what verbal assualt is....it's opinion

he might decide that democratic underground contains vicious verbal assualt

[uppityperson]

24. exactly.

[Jmaxfie1]

5. I hate what they do, but don't see how you could ban it...

without opening a door on perhaps greater invasions of Free Speech. Its a tricky subject.

[vi5]

6. No thanks.....I like free speech....

Even speech I don't like. I don't want Sam Alito or anyone else determining what speech is acceptable and what is not.

And this from someone with a Frank Zappa avatar......how ironic.

[peacebird]

7. free speech is a cornerstone of Democracy. I always thought hate speech would turn people off

And in the case of the Phelps family, it has. People line the route early to prevent them close proximity. The Phelps family are hateful vicious bigots, but free speech is more important than these mosquitos.

People have been denying them, mocking them. Their hateful words have been drowned out by school kids singing and motorcycles engines.

They have been relegated and sidelined as nutjobs. But this SC decision WAS correct, and free speech matters a lot more than these idiots.

[Jmaxfie1]

8. Well said. n/t

[peacebird]

13. thank you. : )

[Morning Dew]

9. The supremes got this one right.

Yay, them.

[Nye Bevan]

10. Who defines what is a "vicious verbal attack"?

Sorry, but I like the First Amendment, even though it protects people's rights to say horrible things.

[somone]

11. Nah. The crazy bunch had a very strong case and they were right.

[Bozita]

12. I'd rather pee on his leg and try to convince him it's raining

Kinda like he's been doing to us.

[digitaln3rd]

14. Alito was not right in this case.

Who is getting hurt because of words? The term "verbal assault" is just a ploy to cater to emotional sensibilities (Oh, he said assault - it must be bad).

This is just another way to try and censor and control speech on the Internet.

[Blue-Jay]

15. Fuck Alito.

[Vinnie From Indy]

16. Alito is an extremist and deserves no toast

In fact, the other eight are right about the decision concerning the assholes at Westboro. I, for one, still believe in the 1st Amendment.

[uppityperson]

17. Alito was wrong, USA is not DU. Roberts was right, here is what he said...

"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 pain," Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the decision. "On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker. As a Nation, we have chosen a different course--to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate."

The USA is not DU. Here we have rules limiting freedom of speech but that is because this is a private board and we all agreed to those rules when signing up.

What WBC does is appalling but protected. If you seriously agree with Alito "not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case", then there can be a whole lot of limiting of speech as that definition is way too broad.

[xmas74]

20. It was the correct decision.

I was on break at work today talking about the decision with a coworker. Her husband and her son are both in the military (one Air Force, one Army). She said that she would be disgusted by the thought of them protesting if anything happen to her husband or her child. She also said that to not allow it would be against everything they had fought to protect.

This all came from the same person who was at the counter protest in Cass Co, MO-the one that had WBC running scared. She said they had to right to say what they wanted while she had the right to tell them why she thought they were wrong.

[uppityperson]

21. I defend their right to say awful things indeed. Alito was wrong.

[xmas74]

23. I was so surprised that my coworker felt

that way. She's extremely conservative on most subjects but on this she said that they had to right to say what they said and she had the right to hate the message.

If she can see it as the correct decision then most here should see it the same way.

[BlueCheese]

18. I'm glad he agrees that...

... what was being expressed was vicious.

But I disagree in that I think the First Amendment protects that.

[Kievan Rus]

19. For as much as I hate the WBC, they still have a right to free speech

[Modern_Matthew]

22. I feel the same way. When there's exceptions to rights, then they aren't rights. n/t

[lonestarnot]

25. Ewwww. I've to know,

did you choke on it?