“Emboldened by Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision, Westboro Baptist Church attorney Margie Phelps said she will challenge statutes all over the country that restrict picketing at funerals.”
“I think they’re going to have a very difficult time getting them overturned,” Washington, D.C., lawyer Gene Schaerr said of the Phelpses. “What they had going for them here, obviously, was a jury verdict that directly targeted their speech and would have punished them for their speech. But when you’re dealing with a time, place and manner restriction, that’s a completely different animal. Those statutes don’t target any one person.”
“He lost; I won,” Margie Phelps said when told of Schaerr’s interpretation of the decision.
She also questioned his credentials on First Amendment issues.
“He doesn’t labor in this vineyard, by the way, he labors in the vineyard of worshipping dead soldiers,” she said. “He doesn’t labor in the vineyard of keeping a dissenting voice alive on your mean streets. He doesn’t have a clue what those issues are. Not a clue.”
Note to Shirley Phelps: Ever hear of quitting while you are ahead? Maybe some time studying American History would be in order.
