Kansas Attorney General Steve Six deserves support in this crusade. He is completing a friend-of-the-court brief this week on behalf of Albert Snyder and is asking other state attorneys general to join him.
Snyder is the father of a Marine who sued the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka after church members picketed his son’s funeral in October of 2006.
The notorious Phelps family of Topeka ARE the Westboro church. They keep themselves visible by traipsing around the country to picket funerals of U.S. servicemen and women, trampling on the American flag, shouting ob-scenities and carrying huge placards declaiming that “God Hates Fags” and “God Hates America,” among other nasty slogans.
When Snyder sued the Phelps’ church to stop its ugliness, a federal jury awarded Snyder a $10.9 million judgment. That was in October 2007. The decision was overturned by a federal appeals court on First Amendment grounds. Since then, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. The Six brief will be presented to the high court when it takes the case under consideration.
Attorney General Six argues on Snyder’s be-half, agreeing Phelps and family should be punished for preying on bereaved families to get publicity for their egocentric, preposterous campaign. As the chief lawyer for Kansas it is his duty to do so. Fred Phelps and his family have brought more shame on Kansas than any other individual or group in the history of the state. A legal way should be found to si-lence them.
Making a $10.9 million judgment stick would probably do the trick.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
