Parents of a Marine killed in Iraq who sued the nutjob Westboro Baptist Church, which has made a habit of picketing the funerals of soldiers killed in action as a way of cheaply attracting attention (on the basis that even hostile attention is good attention, I guess) are being required to pay the legal costs of Westboro Baptist as a result of an appellate court decision.

Lawyers for the father of a Marine from Maryland who died in Iraq and whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters say a court has ordered him to pay the protesters' appeal costs.

Lawyers for Albert Snyder of York, Pa., also say he is struggling to come up with fees associated with filing a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court.

The high court agreed earlier this month to consider whether the protesters' message is protected by the First Amendment or limited by the competing privacy and religious rights of the mourners.

On Friday, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered that Snyder pay costs associated with the Fred Phelps' appeal. Phelps is the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, which conducted protests at Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's funeral in 2006 in Westminster.

CLICK HERE to learn more about The Al Snyder Fund.

I'm floored by the workings of the legal system, and floored again that the newspaper actually published the link to the site where the family can take donations.

I just paypal'ed over my Starbucks budget for the week - $20 - and I implore you to do the same thing, and to pass this around to your friends and ask them to do so as well.

I can comfortably say - without feeling like I'm going Goldstein - that the folks who run Westboro Baptist are insane and vile; I'd love to see them get flattened by the legal system.

And a shoutout here to the Patriot Guards who in large part sprung up to protect military funerals from these clowns.
-