Obama Signs Honoring America's Veterans Act, prohibiting military funeral protests

I think a time restriction makes this reasonable. Not sure if those wackjobs would file a permit for peaceful protesting anyways.

Regardless of one's feelings about war or the life of the deceased, it's still bad decorum to abuse one of our cherished liberties in a vain attempt to rattle the deceased's friends and family.

 

More restricting free speech! WELCOME TO OBAMA'S AMERICA!

 

Our government needs to stop with the knee-jerk reaction to a certain few individuals.

 

I am all for free speech, but these guys holding inflammatory signage outside a funeral of a fallen soldier is a bit much.

It is not really a protest or free speech, it is more or less free publicity for their congregation and Phelps.

Where do you draw the line?

 

So true!

Constitutional rights are paramount for you guys i understand, but i think human rights should come first..

The right to grieve and mourn a loved one in private should be held sacred IMO

I'm a peaceful guy but what those 'people' do sickens and angers me

 

At the expense of voicing unpopular sentiment, I'm going to have to disagree.

The right of free speech and assembly, by definition, requires the acceptance of it in forms that we find repugnant. 'Reasonable' restrictions cannot exist in a vacuum, and the enterprise of determining reasonable restrictions is an extremely problematic one.

A hallmark supreme court case on this topic occured in 1977, when the National Socialist Party, a neo-Nazi group, organized a march through the city of Skokie, Illinois where one in six residents was a Holocaust survivor. The Circuit Court at the time had prohibited the use of swastikas and other incendiary images during the march, and the Supreme Court eventually ruled in favor of the National Socialist Party.

If there were ever an unreasonable, brazenly offensive rally, it was that one. But if we're going to be people who champion freedom of assembly and speech, we have to be willing to accept it, even when it hurts our personal sensitivities.

 

...except that it's otherwise known as a reasonable time place and manner restriction. They can shout "god killed your sons cause he hates teh ****" in the exact same place, in the exact same fashion at any other time.

A restriciton on the the Skokie march would have been permitted if they wanted to hold it at midnight or at some other time specifically engineered to annoy people, like right after a service commemorating the holocaust or something. If you'd read the link you posted, you'd see that was NOT the issue with the skokie case (in which a court attempted to ban the display of the swastika).

 

Truth.

 

Am I crazy? Didn't the SC already rule on this issue and say protesters could protest a military funeral?

 

Eh...there are so many more important problems; I can't seem to care too much about this one.

 

LOL. Yeah, refuse to sign a bill like this during an election year. I dare you. Let the supreme court smack it down and take the heat.

 

I'm no fan of Westboro at all. I can't stand them

But Obama is pissing all over free speech. My guess is the ACLU will fight this if they're able.

 

That's nice of Obama -- so why is he suing to disenfranchise military voters in Ohio? Obama has no problem with letting people with no ID vote, but when it comes to the military -- WHOA NELLIE -- don't let them vote! What a dishonest fraud he is.

 

Based on this, the Supreme Court only ruled that claims for civil compensation for damages and distress arising during First Amendment-protected picketing are not judicious. Given the way the opinion was constructed, whether or not the memorial service itself was disturbed (something this law seems to prevent) is another matter.

 

You don't have a right not to be offended.

 

"Reasonable" is a subjective term and I am worried that such restrictions would lead to other instances of greatly restricting free speech, for example blocking protests during a political convention from not just in front of where the convention is being held to when the convention is not in session.

While the Westboro Baptist church is probably universally reviled this does seem like a law specifically targeting them and limiting their speech. While it is hateful, disrespectful and downright disgusting to protest a soldier's funeral if that is the event they are protesting and that is part of their message then under free speech it seems to me they should be able to do that. Provided they are doing so on public property and not actually impeding the funeral.

 

sigh...

http://www.politifact.com/ohio/stat...omney-says-lawsuit-filed-president-obamas-ca/


We rate the claim False.

 

You just got spanked by rocketsjudoka before i could.

Why do you lie so much, or are just that uninformed? You are a curious create. Idiot or Troll?

Which one is it? That's the only debate and discussion left when it comes to you my clownish friend.