Snyder v. Phelps

Westboro Baptist Church founder Phelps and congregants (defendants) picketed near a soldier's funeral holding signs like "Thank God for Dead Soldiers," complying with police instructions and staying 1,000 feet away on public land without violence or disruption; the soldier's father Snyder (plaintiff), who couldn't actually read the signs, sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress and won $2.9 million in compensatory and reduced $2.1 million in punitive damages, but the court of appeals reversed, finding the protest constitutionally protected.