Rights of Soldiers

Snyder v. Phelps

• Matthew Snyder was a U.S. Marine who was killed in action in Iraq.
• Matthew's funeral the Westboro Baptist Church protested his funeral  
• with signs such as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and  other signs such as
• "You're going to hell" and "America is Doomed."  So the father of the Mari
• took an action against the minister Fred Phelps for intentional infliction

Snyder v. phelps

• of emotional distress and asked if it is legal to picket a
• soldiers funeral. The case made it all the way to the supreme court
• The Justices were forced to side with the minister Phelps because of
• the 1st Amendment the right to petition. The Justices also stated that 
• that the 1st amendment protects against all speech, no matter how vile. 

Snyder v. phelps

• The Supreme Court Case brought up the disscussion
• of whether there should be set a law against petitioning soldiers
• funerals. But now there is an ordinance to keep a mandatory distance
•  away from a funeral if you are pickiting it.

For the draft

• There has been a debate on whether the draft should
• be reinstated. That the military needs more troops so the 
• Military should just reinstate the draft again. The Draft would 
• guarantee more troops for combat.

for the draft

• The military wants more troop. They raised the maximum age
• limit to 40 instead of the previous 35. The Military wants a 90% graduation
• rate from their recruits but currently it is at 82% so the draft would 
• help raise that percentage and vastly increase the number of troops
• in the military.

against the draft

• The debate that is against the draft is about whether the military
• would want quality or quantity of recruits. If the draft were to be
• reinstated some men that were drafted would be unhappy and 
• unfit to be a soldier.

against the Draft

• When young men enlist there selves for service. They most likley
• want to serve and probably have trained their entire life. When drafted 
• most men don't want to fight and the draft is for more of raising an army.
• So the question of quality of the soldiers or quantity.