SCOTUS and Pandora

Be careful what you wish for. You may get it.

If abortion protesters can't be kept away from clinic doors, then military protesters can't be kept away from funerals.

   Politics and religion don't mix, goes the old saying, but recent rulings by the Supreme Court show that conservatives on the court are letting their personal views influence their legal opinions.
   Last week, the court ruled that a Massachusetts law that kept abortion protesters at least 35 feet from the doorways of women's health providers was an unconstitutional infringement on free speech. This despite the court's own policy of keeping protesters at least 250 feet from their own door in Washington.
   This week, the court overturned a requirement that companies -- at least those that are family-owned -- pay for health insurance coverage for contraception, citing religious freedom. Under the Affordable Care Act, companies must supply health insurance coverage. But challengers assert such a law violates their religious belief that life begins at conception, and therefore violates their constitutional right to religious freedom.

   So. Now comes the issue of the Westboro Baptist Church and their claim of the First Amendment right of free speech and to carry signs proclaiming "God hates fags" at the funerals of those who died in the service of their country.
   Previously, their "in-your-face" picketing at church doors led to laws ordering them to stay at least a block away from the funeral. In Missouri, it's 300 feet. Florida, North Carolina, California and others have enacted similar "funeral buffer" measures, and motorcyclists have formed a "Patriot Guard" to escort the fallen and keep the protestors at a distance.
   Such protests led to a federal law, signed by President Obama in August of 2012, ordering picketers to stay at least 300 feet away from the door an hour before and an hour after a military funeral.
   Such laws have not stopped the legal challenges, however. And the SCOTUS rulings of the past few days can only feed the Westboro picketers hunger to satisfy what they claim is their constitutional right to express their views.

   Be careful what you wish for. You may get it.