The 1st Amendment rights of a hateful church

They may be the most obnoxious people in America: the demonstrators from Kansas who slither up to military funerals with such signs as “Thank God for dead soldiers,” “God hates fags” and “You’re going to hell.”

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church claim that U.S. casualties in Iraq are God’s punishment of a military that defends a gay-friendly nation. Their demonstrations in Washington helped spur the 2007 Legislature to enact a law keeping protesters 500 feet away from funerals and burials.

This week, a federal jury in Baltimore awarded $11 million in damages to a man who endured the group’s repulsive antics at the funeral of his son, a Marine killed in Iraq.

The first reaction to that verdict is, “Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of people.” The father’s lawyer summed up the church’s actions as “offensive, shocking, extreme and outrageous in any context, but especially at a funeral.” Who could disagree?

But the second reaction, for those who cherish the Constitution, is, “Wait a minute. What about the First Amendment?”

In fact, the Westboro Baptists are exercising three bedrock constitutional rights: Freedom of religion, speech and assembly. Americans own those rights even if they are shocking, extreme and outrageous.

That leads to another question: How do we preserve paramount First Amendment rights while protecting bereaved families during what should be a sacred and private moment?

It’s a balancing act, but it has been done before. Freedoms can be restricted in time and place while still preserving the right to exercise them.

Nazis and Ku Klux Klansmen can march with hateful signs down public streets. They don’t – say the courts – have a right to burn crosses in a manner that intimidates specific individuals.

Anti-abortion activists can demonstrate against abortion clinics. Yet states can forbid them from getting in the faces of people walking in and out of the facilities.

People can demonstrate at political conventions. Yet cities can keep them far enough away to prevent them from disrupting the proceedings.

For that matter, you can shout “Fire!” – but you better not do it in a crowded theater.

That $11 million verdict in Baltimore may well be overturned, given the Westboro Baptists’ claims on the First Amendment. But the Legislature was on the right track when it said, “Go ahead, hold up your loathsome signs. That’s your right. But get far enough away that decent, grieving people can’t read the obscenities thereon.”