Protesting at Funerals Protected by the Constitution

In 2006, a soldier by the name of Matthew Snyder was killed in Iraq and his funeral was held in Westminister, Maryland a few days after. The Snyder family was just trying to give their son, an American hero, a proper burial when members of the Topeka, Kansas Westboro Baptist Church arrived with plans of "seeking to spread the word of God." The members of this church, the Phelps family, showed up to the funeral and were chanting and holding signs with messages like "Thank God for Dead Soliders", and "God Hates You." Snyder's father was outraged by the situation and decided to sue the religous picketers that ruined his son's funeral while causing "emotional distress" to the family during a time of grief and mourning. Mr. Snyder claimed that, "Matthew deserved better. A civilized society deserved better."

After the initial case, the jury awarded the Snyder family $10 million for the damages that were caused by the hateful messages directed at the family during a very sad, emotional period of time. The amount was later reduced to $5 million and then the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the initial decision based on the grounds of the First Amendment. The Phelps family argued that their protest was not intended to hurt the family, they were meant to speak out against a nation that was "once great." The Phelps' argued that their freedom of speech about public matters should be protected and the U.S. Court of Appeals agreed.

Is this really what this nation has come to? These people are absolutely crazy and the government is pretty much saying, "go ahead, why not? It's your freedom to absolutely deminish a family while they are burying their son who died while fighting for your freedom." I mean I don't understand, I just really don't. Look, I get the fact that the right to protest is protected by the Constitution and the freedom of speech and so on, and I think that's great, but don't you think there should be some kind of median that people should follow? One would think that people would have the morals to not speak out and practically rip the reputation of a soldier apart while his family is giving him a proper burial, but obviously that is not the case. I guess what I don't understand at all is how this family can come in and put a pernament wound in the souls of the people who were trying to mourn this hero's death and they can get away with it. There has got to be some kind of way to avoid these things from happening because this family will do this again and again, but they have the right to do it, right? I don't know about you, but I believe the Phelps' were way out of line and the Snyder family does deserve better. This society deserves better. Matthew Snyder and the many other soldiers who have passed deserve much much better.