Bingo. That's exactly right, Wayne. The case you made is why I am opposed to the SCOTUS weighing in on this case as a first amendment issue.
It is annoying to see new laws enacted only because existing laws are not followed.
Why should the SCOTUS have to rule that, "The first amendment does not protect funeral protestors," when all that needs to happen is that the family sues the protestors for libel, slander, defamation of character, intimidation, harassment, threatening gestures, threatening postures, etc. Then, the funeral home should sue the protestors for trespassing IF they came onto the property. There are many legal arguments that can be made to effectively mitigate funeral protesters without bringing the first amendment into this, which is what the lower court did. That's why the SCOTUS is having to deal with this now.
The real shame is that we live in a f*cked up world where people cannot display the most basic modicum of human decency. Who would protest at a funeral!?!?! That's just nuts.
Look, I realize that armed conflict and wars stir deep emotions in people, but what kind of insane idiots would assign the blame to the families of dead service members and protest during a deeply emotional and personal event like a funeral? That's just evil and extremely stupid. |
