It’s been two weeks since the Supreme Court handed down the last decision of the 2011-12 term, the highly anticipated ruling on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Much of the nation is still buzzing over Chief Justice John Roberts’ decision to write the majority opinion upholding most of the law, and speculation and rumors have run rampant over the behind-the-scenes action that led up to the controversial decision. Did the chief justice switch his vote at the last minute? Was his majority opinion a surreptitious way of reigning in Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause?…

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Westboro Baptist Church’s picketing of a slain U.S. soldier’s funeral is protected speech under the First Amendment. In an 8-to-1 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court upheld the decision of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that threw out a $10.9 million judgment against Westboro Baptist resulting from a defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress lawsuit filed by the soldier’s father, Albert Snyder.

Westboro Baptist Church, which has made a name for itself with its controversial high-profile protests of military funerals and a subsequent lawsuit that has reached the U.S. Supreme Court, is once again making headlines. This time, the small Kansas-based church led by Fred W. Phelps, Sr., has threatened to protest the funerals of victims of Tucson, Arizona, gunman Jared Loughner. A last-minute compromise, however, has avoided demonstrations during the first two of the six funerals. Instead, representatives for Westboro church will be given time on two radio talk shows, one based in Phoenix and one nationally syndicated.