http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/03/supreme-court-rules-picketing-of-funerals-is-protected-speech.html
After reading the article and watching the videos from the attached link, discuss the following:

Should the Westboro Baptist Church be permitted to engage in this form of speech at such private and intimate moments for families that lost a loved one in combat?
You don’t necessarily have to agree with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the article, we learn that the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protects groups that organize anti-gay protests outside military funerals. Recently, The Westboro Baptist Church based in Topeka, Kansas, received media attention for actively attending military funerals for U.S. soldiers that were killed in action in order to express their views.

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is an independent Baptist church known for its extreme stance against homosexuality and its protest activities, which include picketing at funerals for fallen members of our military and desecrating the American flag. The church is described by many as a hate group. In addition to anti-gay protests at military funerals, the organization pickets other celebrity funerals that are likely to get it media attention.
As they have at hundreds of funerals, the Westboro members hold signs with provocative messages, including “Thank God for dead soldiers,” `’You’re Going to Hell,” `’God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11,” and one that combined the U.S. Marine Corps motto, Semper Fi, with a slur against gay men.