Freedom Of Speech Case Study

Freedom of speech is a right that is granted to all American citizens, but even though it is a right in the first amendment many people take it for granted and some take it too far. The Phelps family are of those who took their right of freedom of speech and used it in a negative way.
The Phelps family are the founders of the Westboro Baptist church, yet their practice of religion has nothing in relation to common Baptist churches. The Phelps family practice a rather negative form of protesting with signs that state “God hates fags” and “Thank God for dead soldiers” and they believe that “God punishes the United States for its tolerance of homosexuality, particularly within the military” (Breyer). Their practice have caused more problems than solutions to today’s society. One problem that has sparked questioning was the of Phelps vs. Snyder. This case was the Snyder family suing Phelps for “intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy” (Hanson 338-339). The reason behind the Snyder family suing the Phelps family was because on the day of Albert Snyder son, …show more content…
Though it would be challenging for the court to do so they would need to regulate the protest created by the Westboro church. Just because freedom of speech could not be taken away from the church, the court could make regulations that cause it to be more difficult to protest. The court wouldn’t be able to do much because the church would still have freedom of speech and freedom of religion but communities that have been affected by the church could contribute is doing something. The communities could protest against the church as the church is doing against the communities. When protesting against the Westboro Church it could cause them to go in a spiral of silence because the mass majority of the communities disagree with the churches