Stopping Hate

Forty-eight states, along with the District of Columbia, have submitted a brief to the Supreme Court in support of a father who sued anti-gay protesters--AKA Fred Phelps and his band of miscreants and morons from Westboro Baptists Church--over their demonstration at the 2006 funeral of his son, a Marine killed in Iraq.

Only Virginia and Maine declined to sign the brief by the Kansas attorney general.

Albert Snyder sued over protests by the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church at his son's funeral in Maryland; WBC regularly pickets funerals because they believe war deaths are punishment for U.S. tolerance of homosexuality.

Interesting logic. Or lack of logic might be better.

The Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the protesters' message is protected by the First Amendment, while the brief, filed by the states--except Maine and Virginia--argue that they have a compelling interest in protecting the sanctity of funerals.