Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/10pdf/09-751.pdf
Page Number: 23.0

Cite as:  562 U. S. ____ (2011) 

1 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 09–751 
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ALBERT SNYDER, PETITIONER v. FRED W. 

PHELPS, SR., ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF

APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

[March 2, 2011] 

JUSTICE ALITO, dissenting. 
Our  profound  national  commitment  to  free  and  open
debate  is  not  a  license  for  the  vicious  verbal  assault  that 
occurred in this case. 

Petitioner  Albert  Snyder  is  not  a  public  figure.    He  is 
simply  a  parent  whose  son,  Marine  Lance  Corporal  Mat-
thew Snyder, was killed in Iraq.  Mr. Snyder wanted what 
is surely the right of any parent who experiences such an
incalculable  loss:  to  bury  his  son  in  peace.    But  respon-
dents, members of the Westboro Baptist Church, deprived
him  of  that  elementary  right.    They  first  issued  a  press
release  and  thus  turned  Matthew’s  funeral  into  a  tumul-
tuous  media  event.    They  then  appeared  at  the  church,
approached  as  closely  as  they  could  without  trespassing,
and launched a malevolent verbal attack on Matthew and 
his family at a time of acute emotional vulnerability.  As a 
result,  Albert  Snyder  suffered  severe  and  lasting  emo-
tional  injury.1    The  Court  now  holds  that  the  First 
Amendment  protected  respondents’  right  to  brutalize  Mr. 
Snyder.  I cannot agree. 

Respondents  and  other  members  of  their  church  have 

I 

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1 See 580 F. 3d 206, 213–214, 216 (CA4 2009).