Free speech cases at top of Supreme Court's agenda

[The Northerner]

WASHINGTON — First Amendment cases top the Supreme Court's docket as it begins a new term with a new justice and three women on the bench for the first time.

The court will look at provocative anti-gay protests at military funerals and a California law banning the sale of violent video games to children. These cases worry free speech advocates, who fear the court could limit First Amendment freedoms.

The funeral protest lawsuit, over signs praising American war deaths, "is one of those cases that tests our commitment to the First Amendment," said Steven Shapiro, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Another case involves a different aspect of the First Amendment, the government's relationship to religion. The justices will decide whether Arizona's income tax credit scholarship program, in essence, directs state money to religious schools in violation of the constitutional separation of church and state.

Under Chief Justice John Roberts, marking his fifth anniversary on the court, and with the replacement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor by Justice Samuel Alito, the court has been more sympathetic to arguments that blur the line between government and religion, as long as one religion is not favored over another.

Justice Elena Kagan, confirmed in August, is the one new face on the court, but nearly everyone will be sitting in different seats when the term opens on Monday.

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[Warpy]

1. Yeah, I really hate being on the side of that crazy Phelps family

but that's exactly the sort of speech the first amendment protects, the provocative and unpopular speech. I have a sneaking suspicion that whoever is helping fund their antics is not a friend of the First and would love to see it limited.

If anyone wants to limit that bunch, they need to do it through the IRS. That "church" is the most obvious tax dodge I've ever seen.

[DCKit]

2. "That "church" is the most obvious tax dodge I've ever seen."

Aside from (nearly) every other church?

I too would like to see them censored, but not at the cost of free speech for anyone else. Shunning is the answer in these cases.