Bill of Rights

I'm not a fan of the Westboro Baptist Church. I can totally sympathize with the people who take a swing at these assholes while they're spewing their hate at what has to be an extraordinarily difficult time. I'm not emotionally invested in the funerals and watching from the comfort of my living room pisses me off. However, I agree with the Supreme Court that they have a right to speak their unfathomably vicious rhetoric.
The Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. The limits on that freedom are few. Hate speech is protected in the United States as long as it does not incite to riot or issue a directive to cause immediate harm. While I'm thankful that the Court recognizes the importance of this freedom, I understand the general outrage against what some may see as encouragement for the crackpots from Kansas to continue.
Try to think of it this way: as soon as we decide that you can't say something simply because it is hateful or cruel or offensive, we are de facto indicating that someone (or 9 someones, or 535 someones) can determine what is hateful or cruel or offensive. And right now, with the creeps at Westboro, you may agree that it's offensive. But sometime in the future, when you are telling your friends how much you dislike the Speaker of the House or the Governor of your State and you use some language that may be a bit nasty, how would you feel if the Supreme Court stepped in to tell you that you can't say that?