Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said Wednesday that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the Westboro Baptist Church’s protests at military funerals are protected by the First Amendment “vindicated” his office’s decision not to join an amicus brief against Fred Phelps and the followers of the church.
“While, as both the court in its 8-1 decision and this office have recognized, the speech at issue was vile and reprehensible, it is constitutionally protected under the First Amendment,” Cuccinelli said.
Virginia was one of two states (the other was Maine) that declined to file an amicus brief in the case, in which Albert Snyder, the father of Matthew Snyder, a soldier who died in Iraq, sought damages from the Rev. Fred Phelps and the church after they picketed his son’s funeral.
The group has notoriously shown up at military funerals around the country brandishing signs like “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “You’re Going to Hell.”
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals threw out a judgment that had granted Snyder $5 million, and the Supreme Court upheld the decision.
Cuccinelli said he deplores the acts of Phelps and his followers and sympathizes with the Snyder family and all families who have to deal with them, but if the court had ruled against Westboro, “the case could have set a precedent that would severely curtail certain valid exercises of free speech.”
He also noted that Virginia has a statute that criminalizes disruptions at funerals, and if Phelps or others violate the law, “my office stands ready to provide assistance to local prosecutors to vindicate the law.”
