It’s not easy to defend people whose actions make me want to throw up. People who make my eyes burn whenever I see their picture. People who make me want to build a time machine for the sole purpose of bringing them back to the mid-’90s when Steve Austin was in his prime so he can give them all “Stone Cold Stunners.”

In fact, it’s hard to defend that group of people. But I will.

The Supreme Court was right to rule in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church.

After the ruling, it was terrible to see the reaction of Albert Snyder, the father of a dead Marine whose funeral was picketed by the church’s members, talk about the pain the church’s hateful message caused. His disappointment was hard to swallow, but the ruling against him was the right one.

The Westboro members carried out their protest at a public place, on a public street, within the legal boundaries where their picketing could be staged. They had the right to be there and the right to say what they believed, no matter how asinine.

The First Amendment is not first by accident. Its principles stand as the foundation of everything this country was built on, and free speech is a major part of that. The speech of the Westboro members, as horrific as it is, concerned public issues. It was not directed at Snyder in particular – it was directed at everyone. Because of that it cannot be filtered. The marketplace of ideas should not be impeded, no matter what kind of hatred filth it brings in.

In its opinion, the Supreme Court cited the 1989 ruling in Texas v. Johnson: “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.”

The court is right to say that.

Throughout the decades people have spewed all kinds of trash like that into the public consciousness, but we are a country of reason. We should know when things are terrible and wrong. The government should not have to tell us.

We don’t need, and can’t have, restrictions on what can be said in the public sphere. The Supreme Court could have brought us down that path, but it is not the right of any one person, any one court or any one government to decide what can and cannot be said. The content of any speech should not be controlled, even when the speech is so hateful it makes you feel sick.

What can be controlled is where these things can be said. Time, place and manner restrictions can curb where the hatred of those such as Westboro’s members is displayed. Every place is not open for speech, and those restrictions make sure some places are closed to people such as Westboro protestors.

But in America those people will always have a place to speak freely, thanks to the First Amendment. Our country is great not because of what lunatics like Westboro’s members say; it’s great because they are free to say it. I hope I never see the day in America where that is not the case.

Jordan Osterman can be reached at jrosterman@stthomas.edu.