Phelps was really just ahead of his time

At the risk of sounding like John Cole, this is fucking nuts.

Lawyers for the father of a Marine who died in Iraq say a court has ordered him to pay legal costs for the anti-gay protesters who picketed his son’s funeral. The protesters are led by Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan. The father, Albert Snyder of York, Pa., had won a $5 million verdict against Mr. Phelps, but it was thrown out on appeal. On Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Maryland, ordered Mr. Snyder to pay the costs of Mr. Phelps’s appeal. The United States Supreme Court agreed earlier this month to consider whether the protesters’ provocative messages, which include phrases like “Thank God for dead soldiers,” are protected by the First Amendment. Members of the church maintain that God hates homosexuality and that the death of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan is God’s way of punishing the United States for its tolerance of it.

I can understand that Phelps' "speech" is protected, but forcing the victim of that speech to pay his court costs? Shouldn't those be borne by the court that originally agreed to hear the case?

But really, I'm waiting for the wingnuts to rush to Phelps defense, but I guess their silence throughout his long stint on the national stage tells us all we need to know. I know, it's a topsy-turvy world these days.