The case made its way to the nation's highest court after a federal appeals court threw out a $5 million judgement for the family of a soldier. Arthur Snyder sued Westboro's leader, Rev. Fred Phelps, for $11 million after Westboro picketers using Snyder's son's 2006 funeral in Maryland to protest about gays in the military. In the ruling, Chief Justice Roberts also pointed out that the Westboro protesters were 1,000 feet from the church and followed police rules. But Justice Samuel Alito, the lone dissenter, wrote, "Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case." You can read the opinion here (PDF).
Supreme Court OKs Westboro's Hate Fest At Military Funerals
Assemblyman Tried To Punch Westboro Hate Mongers
Hikind also called Phelps-Roper a "whore" (you can see video below). Yeshiva World News reports that the Westboro protesters' minivan's tires were slashed: "They were seen a short while later getting their flat fixed at a local tire-repair shop. 'The only thing I’m sad about, is that all four of their tires weren’t slashed', Dov Hikind told YWN."
Westboro Church Comes to West Village to Protest Gays, Jews
Bearing signs that read "You Will Eat Your Babies" and "Fags Doom Nations," members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church showed up at gay-friendly The Congregation Beth Simchat Torah in the West Village ready to give its members a piece of their mind. Westboro member Steve Drane told NY1, "Anywhere where God's word needs to be preached to an unrepentant generation, that's where we'll be." This weekend marks the first that the church led by Fred Phelps is expanding its anti-gay crusade to now include Jews as well, for reasons such as their exceeding tolerance of homosexuality and abortion to their lack of repentance for killing Christ. While only a handful of Westboro members made it out today, hundreds including Speaker Christine Quinn faced off with them in a counter-protest, where members of the temple were encouraged to keep their message positive when addressing the visitors, particularly while speaking to the press.

