Showing posts with label D.D. Driver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label D.D. Driver. Show all posts

September 24, 2020

President Trump and the First Lady pay their respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the top of the steps of the Supreme Court building, and the crowd at the foot of the steps yells, boos, and chants "Vote him out!"



IN THE COMMENTS: D.D. Driver said:
Hey it's Snyder v. Phelps! Ginsburg sided with Westboro Baptists' first amendment right to protest funerals.

Sad trivia — do you remember who the sole dissenter was?
Here's my blog post from the day the Court decided Snyder v. Phelps. Chief Justice Roberts wrote:
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. 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. That choice requires that we shield Westboro from tort liability for its picketing in this case.
I said, "Clearly, this is the right outcome." And I quoted Justice Alito, the lone dissenter: "Respondents’ outrageous conduct caused petitioner great injury, and the Court now compounds that injury by depriving petitioner of a judgment that acknowledges the wrong he suffered. In order to have a society in which public issues can be openly and vigorously debated, it is not necessary to allow the brutalization of innocent victims like petitioner."

Of course, no one cares about the brutalization of the not-so-innocent Trump, and Trump knows that and is taking it like a champion.