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The Supreme Court will review whether anti-gay protests at funerals of American soldiers are protected by the First Amendment, taking up the appeal of a Maryland man who won and then had reversed a $10 million verdict against the small Kansas church that conducts the demonstrations.
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After emotional testimony from Albert Snyder that he had "one chance to bury my son, and they took the dignity away from it," a Baltimore jury awarded Snyder more than $10 million in damages. A district judge cut the amount in half, and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond threw out the verdict and award.
The three-judge panel said the signs could not be reasonably understood to be referring directly to Snyder and his son. And the court said that, as offensive as it found Phelps's rhetoric, it was protected as speech concerning issues in the national debate.
The three-judge panel said the signs could not be reasonably understood to be referring directly to Snyder and his son. And the court said that, as offensive as it found Phelps's rhetoric, it was protected as speech concerning issues in the national debate.