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Page Number: 18.0

14 

SNYDER v. PHELPS 

Opinion of the Court 

ence doctrine only sparingly to protect unwilling listeners
from  protected  speech.  For  example,  we  have  upheld  a 
statute  allowing  a  homeowner  to  restrict  the  delivery  of
offensive mail to his home, see Rowan v. Post Office Dept., 
397 U. S. 728, 736–738 (1970), and an ordinance prohibit-
ing picketing “before or about” any individual’s residence, 
Frisby, 487 U. S., at 484–485. 

Here,  Westboro  stayed  well  away  from  the  memorial 
service.  Snyder  could  see  no  more  than  the  tops  of  the 
signs when driving to the funeral.  And there is no indica-
tion  that  the  picketing  in  any  way  interfered  with  the
funeral  service  itself.    We  decline  to  expand  the  captive 
audience doctrine to the circumstances presented here. 

Because we find that the First Amendment bars Snyder
from  recovery  for  intentional  infliction  of  emotional  dis-
tress  or  intrusion  upon  seclusion—the  alleged  unlawful
activity  Westboro  conspired  to  accomplish—we  must
likewise hold that Snyder cannot recover for civil conspir-
acy based on those torts. 

IV 
Our  holding  today  is  narrow.   We  are  required  in  First
Amendment  cases  to  carefully  review  the  record,  and  the
reach of our opinion here is limited by the particular facts
before  us.  As  we  have  noted,  “the  sensitivity  and  signifi-
cance  of  the  interests  presented  in  clashes  between  First 
Amendment  and  [state  law]  rights  counsel  relying  on
limited  principles  that  sweep  no  more  broadly  than  the
appropriate  context  of  the  instant  case.”    Florida  Star  v. 
B. J. F., 491 U. S. 524, 533 (1989).

Westboro believes that America is morally flawed; many 
Americans  might  feel  the  same  about  Westboro.    West-
boro’s  funeral  picketing  is  certainly  hurtful  and  its  con-
tribution  to  public  discourse  may  be  negligible.    But 
Westboro  addressed  matters  of  public  import  on  public
property, in a peaceful manner, in full compliance with the