File under Major Major Major Irony today's Supreme Court arguments, in which Westboro Baptist Church and the Rev. Fred Phelps fought for the right to protest at the funerals of U.S servicemen.
After the ultra-conservative, Kansas-based church -- whose website is godhatesfags.com -- protested at the 2006 funeral of a soldier from Maryland, it was hit with a multimillion-dollar award in a federal court in Baltimore. Now appeals have hit the high court. Lawyers for the church argue that the protests, which the federal trial judge called "outrageous" and "highly offensive," are protected by the First Amendment. The church says such protests -- featuring signs that say "Thank God for dead soldiers" -- are not aimed at the dead soldiers, but at U.S. military policy.
I place this in the MMMI file because church members also have protested outside Comic Con and have torched a Koran, according to news reports. If only we could poll the Founding Fathers about the free speech issue; I'd love to hear what Thomas Jefferson and his crew would say about it.
Photo of Phelps' grandchild Daniel, 9, by The Baltimore Sun's Amy Davis