Westboro Baptist Church Comes to the Supreme Court

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church picket in front of the Supreme Court in Washington,Oct. 6,...

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church picket in front of the Supreme Court in Washington,Oct. 6, 2010. The Supreme Court will have to weigh the privacy concerns of families mourning the deaths of their loved ones against the protesters' First Amendment rights of free speech.

(Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)

Nationwide Interest in Case Outcome

After the arguments, Albert Snyder appeared outside the court and, with emotion, read a statement, calling the day his son died, the "worst day of his life." His grief was compounded, he said, by being targeted by the church's demonstrations. "It is one thing no family should ever have to go through."

Margie Phelps spoke outside the court as well, and said, "There is no line that could be drawn here without shutting down speech." She told reporters, "You should all be thanking us for that heavy lifting we did in there."

At one point she broke into song with members of her congregation who stood behind her.

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The case has attracted a flurry of friend-of-the-court briefs on both sides. Lawyers representing 40 states which have passed laws regulating protests at funerals, have weighed in on Snyder's behalf.

"The States should be accorded their traditionally recognized police powers to adopt and enforce reasonable time, place, and manner regulations on activities that may disrupt funerals, and to define civil tort liability for conduct that intentionally inflicts emotional distress and invades sacred privacy interests," said the brief, written by the Attorney General Steve Six of Kansas, who was joined by the other states.

The American Civil Liberties Union, however, has weighed in on behalf of the free speech concerns of the Phelps and their church. In court papers, lawyers for the ACLU wrote, the "First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion are designed to protect the right of speakers to voice their views on matters of public concern and to express their religious convictions."