Marco Rubio: Constitutional Scholar

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the Supreme Court majority opinion for SNYDER v. PHELPS. The Supreme Court ruled that the mean-spirited protests of the Westboro Baptist Church was protected under the First amendment.

Given that Westboro’s speech was at a public place on a matter of public concern, that speech is entitled to “special protection” under the First Amendment. Such speech cannot be restricted simply because it is upsetting or arouses contempt. “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” Texas v. Johnson, 491 U. S. 397, 414 (1989). Indeed, “the point of all speech protection . . . is to shield just those choices of content that in someone’s eyes are misguided, or even hurtful.”

Roberts acknowledged that Westboro did the protest of fallen military veterans to gain publicity. Where Roberts drew the line was in restricting free speech. That doesn't stop Marco Rubio from being a co-sponsor of the bill Sanctity of Eternal Rest for Veterans.

Rubio, a first-term Republican from Miami, added his name to the list of senatorial sponsors.

"The men and women of our military who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country deserve to be buried in peace and with honor," Rubio said in a statement issued this week. "I'm proud to support this common sense legislation that honors our nation's heroes."

The proposed bill is backed by a variety of military support groups, including the gold Star Wives of America and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

"Several of our members have been forced to endure these unseemly, irreverent protests at the funerals of their beloved fallen spouse," said a statement released by the Gold Star Wives. "Losing a beloved husband or wife is traumatic enough without also having to endure these protestors and their nasty signs and obnoxious behavior."

Lawmakers making legislation that is suppose to serve a narrow cause is always a bad idea. Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature approved Terri's law. The sole goal of the bill was to keep the brain dead Terri Schiavo from being taken off life support. Conservatives lost every legal battle on the Schiavo case. The Supreme Court refused to hear the Schiavo case.

Terri's law was unconstitutional because it violated to Equal Protection clause. All laws are suppose to apply equally. Laws can not be made to apply to a single person. The Jim Crow laws were unconstitutional because they only applied to blacks. What Rubio is co-sponsoring violates the first and 14 amendments of the constitution.