To the Editor:
Re “Justices Uphold Hateful Protest as Free Speech” (front page, March 3):
I think the right to a solemn, private, dignified and peaceful funeral far outweighs the right to protest, particularly if the person being buried has nothing to do with the protest.
Therefore I think the Supreme Court gravely erred in Snyder v. Phelps, in which it sided with a religious group to permit it to protest at a military funeral against the American policy of allowing gays in the military.
Groups will always have opportunities to protest. But a family gets only one opportunity to properly grieve a child’s death.
Kenneth L. Zimmerman
Huntington Beach, Calif., March 3, 2011
To the Editor:
Your March 3 front page presents a contrast worthy of reflection. In the left-hand column appears the account of the assassination of a cabinet minister in Pakistan who sought to repeal a law that makes the expression of some religious views a capital crime. In the right-hand column appears the account of a United States Supreme Court decision defending the right of protesters to express publicly the most hateful and hurtful opinions.
Whatever bad things are done by our government (no doubt there are many), our repeated, penetrating and vigorous protection of the freedom to speak and to write distinguishes us among the nations. It should make Americans deeply proud.
Carl Cohen
Ann Arbor, Mich., March 3, 2011
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 