The U.S. Supreme Court begins its latest term today with a new justice, Elena Kagan, and plans to hear a case involving the rabidly anti-gay Phelps family of “God Hates Fags” infamy.
The Supreme Court is on Wednesday scheduled to hear preliminary arguments in Snyder v. Phelps. Albert Snyder sued the Phelps family after they protested the 2006 funeral of his Marine son.
The Phelps family and their vehemently anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church often target military funerals nationwide based on their belief that soldiers are fighting to defend acceptance toward gay men and lesbians.
In Snyder v. Phelps, the Supreme Court will decide whether the First Amendment protects hate speech.
With the addition of Justice Elena Kagan, former solicitor general in the Obama administration’s Justice Department, more women now simultaneously sit on the Supreme Court than ever before in its history. Justice Kagan and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, both appointed by President Obama, are the most recent members of the nation’s highest court. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the woman with the longest tenure, is now the Supreme Court’s most senior left-leaning justice.
