"Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and -- as it did here -- inflict great pain," said the decision in favor of the Westboro Baptist church, which pickets soldiers' funerals, claiming God killed them to show anger over US tolerance of homosexuality.

"On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in an eight-to-one decision in favor of the church made up mainly of direct members of the family of founder and leader Fred Phelps.

Phelps was sued several years ago for defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of distress by the father of Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, who died in Iraq in 2006 -- and was not gay.

According to the Supreme Court decision, the Westboro Baptists picketed Matthew Snyder's funeral, carrying signs with slogans including "God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11," "America is Doomed, "Fag Troops," and "You're going to hell."

But they picketed peacefully and with police permission on private land about 1,000 feet (300 meters) from the Maryland church where the funeral was held, the decision says.

While the signs "fall short of refined social or political commentary... they reflect the fact that the church finds much to condemn in modern society," the justices said, characterizing the Westboro Baptist Church's message as "speech on a matter of public concern."

"The funeral setting does not alter that conclusion," the decision added.

The lone dissenting justice, Samuel Alito, denounced the church's "brutalization" of Snyder, which he said should not be allowed on the pretext of defending First Amendment rights to free speech.

"Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case," Alito said.

"In order to have a society in which public issues can be openly and vigorously debated, it is not necessary to allow the brutalization of innocent victims like the petitioner."

Many ordinary Americans were rooting for Snyder and his family, whose grief was compounded by the fact that the justices handed down their decision almost five years to the day that Matthew died in Iraq at the age of 20.

In a Facebook posting, Matthew's sister Sarah said she was "appalled and saddened that our country would allow this to happen."

"Matt was killed 3/3/06 in Iraq fighting for a country he completely believed in, fighting for the very rights that these people have taken to an entirely new level," she said.

A supporter of the family, Joey Zovich, posted the phone number of the Supreme Court and urged Americans to exercise their First Amendment right by phoning it to express their disgust.

But free speech advocates like lawyer Andrew Contiguglia hailed the decision -- even if they disagreed with the way the Westboro Baptists express themselves.

"This shows that the old adage 'I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it' still stands strong in the 21st century," Contiguglia said.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the decision had found the fine balance between respecting the Snyder family's grief and not abandoning "core First Amendment principles designed to protect even the most unpopular speech on matters of public concern."

The justices, who had mulled arguments presented by both sides in the case since November, admitted that the decision was "narrow" and reached with difficulty.

"We are required in First Amendment cases to carefully review the record, and the reach of our opinion here is limited by the particular facts before us," they said.

"Westboro believes that America is morally flawed; many Americans might feel the same about Westboro," they wrote in their opinion, which upholds a 2009 appeal court ruling rejecting a federal jury's decision that awarded Snyder's father $11 million, reduced to $5 million, against the church.

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