Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S. ___ (2011)

Snyder v. Phelps

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Snyder v. Phelps
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 6, 2010 Decided March 2, 2011
Full case name	Albert Snyder v. Fred W. Phelps, Sr.; Westboro Baptist Church, Incorporated; Rebekah A. Phelps-Davis; Shirley L. Phelps-Roper
Docket nos.	09-751
Citations	562 U.S. ___ (more) 131 S. Ct. 1207; 179 L. Ed. 2d 172; 2011 U.S. LEXIS 1903; 79 U.S.L.W. 4135; 39 Media L. Rep. 1353; 22 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 836
Prior history	Judgment for the plaintiff, 533 F.Supp.2d 567 (D. Md., 2008); reversed, 580 F.3d 206 (4th Cir., 2009)
Argument	Oral argument
Holding
Speech on a public sidewalk, about a public issue, cannot be liable for a tort of emotional distress, even if the speech is found to be "outrageous." Fourth Circuit affirmed, trial court reversed and remanded.
Court membership
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Associate Justices Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor · Elena Kagan
Case opinions
Majority	Roberts, joined by Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan
Concurrence	Breyer
Dissent	Alito
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S. ___ (2011), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that speech on a public sidewalk, about a public issue, cannot be liable for a tort of emotional distress, even if the speech is found to be "outrageous".

At issue was whether the First Amendment protected protests of public protestors at a funeral against tort liability. It involved a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress made by Albert Snyder, the father of Matthew Snyder, a Marine who died in the Iraq War. The claim was made against the Phelps family, including Fred Phelps, and against Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church (WBC). The Court ruled in favor of Phelps in an 8–1 decision, holding that their speech related to a public issue, and was disseminated on a public sidewalk.